Mass Effect: The Aftermath
by Arentil
Summary: What happened to the other bio's? Where is the hero of Elysium? In the aftermath of the Citadel, Shepard and Co. may need his help. Shepard: Earth/Akuze, Liara romance, Kaiden death.
1. Chapter 1

**_Disclaimer:_ I in no way own Mass Effect, or the characters in it. They are the property of Bioware, and I am just a lowly fan. Mandatory Disclaimer over. Onto the story!**

**Pirates and Commandos  
**

"And so, Emily Wong, who prior before this, managed to successfully investigate both Fist of Chora's Den and also got the Council to add onto the air traffic controllers, managed to come up with an exclusive interview with Commander Shepard," said the talking vid-head, before it was muted. The dingy bar was nearly ubiquitous to any highly populated planet, and the patronage was a testament to it. Krogan bouncers stood near the offices, while a mixture of turians, salarians, and humans mingled around tables and the long bar. Hookahs dotted the tables, and most of the clientele had a pipe in their mouths, even the turians.

At the bar, nursing a glass of whiskey, sat Richard Bludworth. Dirty blonde hair was cropped short, and his short, lean form had the distinctive grace of a hard fighter. Glancing up at the vid-screen, he gave a short bark of laughter, draining the glass. "Figures," he murmured, pressing a bill on the bar. The turian bartender picked the bill up, beady eyes glancing at the human. "Still got the blues, Rick?" he prompted, picking up the vintage bottle of Jack Daniels and pouring another few fingers of the whiskey into the glass.

"Blues don't cover this, Jax," Rick snorted, the glass rising to his lips. Taking a short sip, he pokes a finger at the vid. "They've been talking about no one but this Shepard fella for almost a week straight. 'He was a gang member who suddenly reformed, survived Akuze, and is now our savior!'" Shaking his head, Rick took another sip from the glass, letting it rest on the bar. "All I see is that he has a dogged sense of justice," he muttered, swirling the ice around in his glass, before giving a small shrug.

Jax's eyes roved over the man, beady eyes flicking up and down his face. Rick watched him, taking another sip from his whiskey glass almost nonchalantly. After a few seconds, the turian held out his hand. Rick let out a small groan. "C'mon Jax, three drinks..."

"Doesn't matter," interrupted the turian. "I'm not letting a friend get pasted in an accident."

"Last time you made me walk home, I had to get my car out of the impound!" protested Rick, though he knew where it was going. Once Jax got that look in his beady eyes, the person wasn't going to win the fight.

"Rick, I promise I won't call the towers this time," the bartender solemnly swore, causing Rick to splutter on his drink.

"It was you!" he roared after wiping his mouth with one of the napkins, eyes almost bugging out of his head as he glared at Jax. "You said that you thought the manager called them!"

Jax's mandibles clicked against his jaw, beady eyes gleaming slightly as he watched Rick rant at him. Eventually, his mandibles clicked faster, and Rick shut his mouth, eyes narrowing. "What's so funny, Jax?" He nearly hissed eyes boring into Jax's.

"Just the fact that I can play you like a fiddle, Rick."

"…. I hate you Jax."

Jax smiled slightly, before outstretching his three fingered hand again, palm up. Rick eyed the turian for a while, and then fished around a little in his pocket, getting the starter chip to his vintage 2150 Mazda. "Fine. But if it's gone in the morning, Jax, I am seriously gonna be pissed."

"So you say, Rick." Said the turian, placing the chip beneath the bar, before picking up a pair of mugs and heading over to a pair of salarians chatting at the other end of the bar. "So you say..."

Rick grumbled a variety of curses at the retreating turian, before picking up his whiskey glass and swiveling to face the screen. There was now an Asian-looking reporter standing next to a tall, raven-haired (at least by the stubble on his chin and head, his hair was shorter than regulation length), and blue-eyed.

Behind the Commander were what appeared to be a quarian, judging by the full-body enviro-suit that she wore, and a young asari. After Shepard talked with the woman for a while, the camera panned out, revealing more aliens. While Rick wasn't a xenophobe, he couldn't help but wonder if humanity's first Spectre was going to be a lapdog for aliens. From what he'd read of the many reports on Shepard, it seemed a little likely.

"Krogan, Quarian, Asari, Turian, and Human. Four more species, and it'd be a picture perfect moment of what we can all do if we 'work together!'" he groused, hand wrapping around his glass and bringing it up to be quickly drained. His eyes moved up and down the vid, before Rick simply shook his head. "Naïve bastard," he commented, turning back to the bar. There was a drink that needed his attention. Or maybe more. After five more whiskey's, he slowly walked out of the bar, and began the long trek home.

Rick managed to put one foot in front of the other, barely. Shanxi was quiet at night, something left over from the turian invasion that had almost devastated the colony. Jax's was the largest alien gathering spot on the planet, and Rick liked it. It comforted him to realize that the dregs of human society had their respective counterparts all over the galaxy. And just because he had wrongly been placed in the dregs, didn't mean that he automatically hated everyone else in them. There were some people in the dregs that he liked, but there were some that he absolutely hated. A lot like the people in the military.

Feet still somehow placing themselves in sync, Rick managed to walk his way down the sidewalk, his eyes firmly on his feet to help him move. His shoulders occasionally smacked against someone else's, but he kept moving, mumbling apologies to those in his wake. He always hated walking, whether it was going home drunk, or even around the neighborhood.

He was jerked out of his drunken revelry by literally bowling over a salarian. "Hey, watch where you're going human!" sneered the amphibian, the accelerated voice of the alien immediately giving him a migraine. Gritting his teeth, Rick pushed himself up, staggering drunkenly.

"Buddy, I'm having enough trouble watching where my feet are going..." Rick shot back, resting against a concrete wall. The salarians purple rimmed eyes shot over to him, before they narrowed slightly, gazing with the typical amphibian intensity of his species. Rick stood still, eyes closed as he desperately tried to regain his balance.

"Wait..." murmured the salarian, his eyes flickering over the human, mouth up-turned into a deep frown. "Wait, I believe I know you, human." The purple rings dilated slightly in astonishment as the being continued. "You're Major Bludworth, aren't you?"

Rick laughed slightly, opening one eye slightly as he gazed intently at the salarian. "Nope. Not a major anymore. Just Rick will do, or Mr. Bludworth if you wanna get formal."

"Well, Mister Bludworth," the salarian stated, glancing around the area, seemingly to check for any other beings, "I do believe that my family and I owe you this." With that, the salarian's fist swooshed out, only to be caught by a tanned human hand.

Rick glared down at the salarian, one eye still closed as his nostrils widened slightly. "Buddy, I have no idea what you're talking about. But, if you want to survive, I'd suggest walking away, right now."

The salarian sniffed slightly, his eyes boring into Rick's. "Considering that you're inebriated, I'd be more than willing to say that I can take you."

"Really now?" asked the human. "Because my friend seems to think differently."

The amphibious alien blinked once, black pupils staring up at the man. He hadn't noticed any beings traveling near the human. "What friend?"

Rick lifted his left fist so the salarian could see it. "This one," he grunted, swinging it down into the area above its eyes. Needless to say, the salarian was stunned, but it wasn't in a position to run. Probably having something to do with being hit in the side of the head, but there was also the fact that Rick still had its fist clenched in his hand. Either way, the salarian wasn't prepared for what followed. Namely the fist slamming repeatedly into his head. And whether it was because he was drunk, a little pissed that he was walking home, or just because he didn't like people talking down to him, he didn't stop until the sector police peeled him away from the amphib and tossed him in the back of their squad car. The unconscious salarian followed a few seconds later.

Meanwhile, thousands of light years away, Shepard's boots clacked down the corridors of the Citadel tower, the two more essential members of his ground team trailing behind him as he walked toward the four council members. In the aftermath of the attack on the Citadel, the three councilors had invited humanity to join.

Commander John Shepard's nose wrinkled as he nodded to the three councilors, purposefully ignoring the newest councilor, Uldina. The man's brow furrowed in slight anger, but the presence of the other three councilors prevented him from taking a bite out of his backside. "Commander Shepard, you have been summoned before this session in order to discuss several assignments." Uldina's eyebrows knitted together in some consternation as he looked down at his pad. "From what I see, crime and piracy has spiked almost two-fold, and it shows no sign of decreasing."

"And we're getting worried about it," interrupted the turian councilor, glancing at the asari, before looking down at Shepard. "Unless we show that we are just as strong as before, it is likely that there might be a repeat of the Skyllian Blitz. Only this time, more successful." The other two councilors nodded as they too, looked down at Shepard, their gazes inscrutable. Uldina, on the other hand, wore his traditional, trademark perpetually angry face. Word had it that he hadn't smiled in over four years.

Behind him, Liara piped up, her voice flowing out as smooth as honey. "We, too, have seen these signs, councilors. And we are responding as best we can." Glancing up at Shepard, who gave a curt nod, and then continued where she left off. "But, I can't be in more than one place at a time. And these things are cropping up two and three at a time."

The asari nodded her head. "We are well aware of your limitations. Needless to say, all our other forces are just as busy responding to these threats as you are." She glanced over at the salarian, who tapped something on the orange holo-pad in front of him. "However, we need to find who is organizing these attacks." She finished, her hands settling on the handholds by her holo-pad.

"As of today, it is your top priority, Shepard. You must find who is behind these attacks, and neutralize them," Uldina commanded, attempting to look like a stern judge or lawmaker. Instead, he just looked constipated to Shepard.

Biting back the snarky comment on the tip of his tongue, Shepard nodded. "I will make sure to do everything in my power to track them down." Liara and Tali both bowed their heads to the councilors, only Shepard didn't bother showing them the courtesy.

While Shepard walked down the stairs, his teammates flanking him on either side, he almost ran into Anderson. "Hello Shepard," the captain said, his eyes flat and almost appearing dead on his feet. Shepard, with his usual simplicity, snapped off a salute. Even though he wasn't technically Alliance navy anymore, he wasn't about to keep from giving the captain the respect he deserved.

"Captain." He responded, still holding the salute. Anderson merely chuckled and returned the salute to him.

"At ease, Shepard. Besides, I'm not in your chain of command anymore," the captain said, his lips pulling into a smile.

"Captain, the way things are going, I may be headed back just to get a little rest." Shepard said, waving Tali and Liara off. The asari offered him a brief smile and wave, before heading off to the elevator with Tali.

"That busy, huh?" Anderson asked, eyes glancing up at the four councilors, who were now talking to an elcor diplomat. "Ever think about taking on another member?" He asked, voice lowering slightly. "Because I know of a very good man who'd be glad to bring the fight against pirates and slavers..."

Shepard glanced up at the councilors as well, before his eyes returned to Captain Anderson. "I think you and me need to have another chat in Flux." He murmured to the Captain.

Anderson nodded back at the Commander. "I agree. I'm just going to drop off these reports to Uldina, and then I'll meet you there." The captain gave Shepard a slight nod, before raising his voice. "So that's that, Commander. I can't persuade Uldina to give you a little R and R." Shepard feigned a frown, before giving the Captain a friendly wave.

Turning slightly, the Commander's boots clacked down the hallway as he walked towards the elevator. If he was lucky, he might catch up with Liara for a bit of alone time…

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Ashley fumed slightly as she began to check her assault rifle, for what seemed to be the ten billionth time. As far as she knew, it was more than likely that it was, since the start of the Saren assignment. And it was all she was likely to do, if the Commander seemed to have anything to do with it!

She shook her head slightly, placing her palm on her forehead. The Commander was a real problem. If it weren't for the fact that she owed Joker and Dr. Chakwas her life more than she cared to count… she would probably leave. Then again, she'd be dishonoring Kaidan's memory if she left the Normandy. Still, she was distraught. Less than a week after they had chatted… he fell for the damn asari. Scuttlebutt even said that before they went through the Mu Relay, very loud noises were coming from his room. And Liara was nowhere to be found.

Shaking her head, she gripped her assault rifle so tightly, she was surprised it didn't shatter in her grip. She hadn't even stood a chance. She flirted with him during the week they had gone to find Liara, but after that.. Nope. Brief conversations and orders around the ship. He even stopped taking her out on missions! At least the important missions. Like when they did their last, all-out attack on Saren. He'd taken Tali and the asari skank, had even left Wrex and Garrus behind, even though they were itching to go and tear out Saren's throat.

"Williams?" Blinking, Ash glanced around the cargo bay. There wasn't another person in sight. Garrus and Wrex had taken to eating together in the galley, bandying about words. _Veiled threats, more like it_, she quietly thought to herself.

"Williams! It's Joker!" Damn. Now she looked like a freaking idiot, instead of crazy.

Muttering inder her breath, she raised her voice slightly. "Yeah Joker, what is it?"

"Skipper wants you to report to Flux. Apparently there's a meeting there, and he wants you there to act as a compass," came the pilot's voice.

Ash's nostrils flared, and she began suiting up. He wanted to call her down there for business, she was going to suit up for her own business. And her business was more often than not shooting something. Sliding her Kovalyov into its slot, she started to head down to the meeting.

Ashley made it down almost twenty minutes later. The Commander and Captain Anderson looked up from their private table, and Shepard slid out a chair for her as she approached. "What took you so long, Ash?" He asked.

She shot a glare at him as she took a seat, settling her armored body down in her chair. "The damn elevator to C-Sec, that's what. I swear, the thing takes FOREVER!" Glancing over at Anderson, she nodded at him. "Hey there, Captain. How goes the glamorous life of a diplomat's advisor?"

"To be honest, I'd rather be out on the frontlines with the Normandy," Anderson replied, glancing down at his hands. "But, my time's past, as I've said more than once." Glancing up again, the captain glanced between the two of them. "Now.. I know someone who would be able to help you with your fights."

Shepard nodded slightly, his arms folded across his chest. A drink lay untouched in front of him, even as Ash listened intently to the commander. "Is he Alliance? Merc? Or is it a she?" She asked, looking intensely at the captain.

The captain glanced at the two of them briefly. "He's ex-Alliance. Was one of the best commando's we've ever seen." He fixed his gaze on Shepard, his eyes intense. "He survived Mindoir as a kid. Fought back the Skyllian Blitz single-handedly, too."

Shepard merely blinked, but Ash's eyes bugged out. "You can't possibly mean…. He was dishonorably discharged for killing four salarians!"

"Who exactly are we talking about, Anderson?" Shepard asked, his eyes narrowed at the officer.

"I'm talking about a person who's currently living on Shanxi, and he's the best sniper in the galaxy." Anderson's eyes bored into Shepard's, all traces of humor gone. "The best covert insertionist I've seen. I'm talking about a man named Richard Bludworth."

In the drunk tank on Shanxi's biggest city, Rick gave a small shiver. It had nothing to do with the weather. In fact, he had been playing a lively tune on a harmonica he snuck into the cell. The others in the tank had joined in, and even the officers outside were singing along. Somehow, for better or for worse, he felt like he was about to take a turn into the galactic spotlight again. Shrugging the feeling off, he continued to play the harmonica, sending lively tunes off into the night.

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Yeah, I know, bad first start. Might need an editor, but I'd really appreciate feedback. Please review! I'd appreciate it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Conspiring Fates**

The sound of the metal grate sliding open woke Rick up from his dreamless sleep, making him sit up and rub his eyes. Opening them, he immediately squinted hard, the sunlight streaming into the cell not doing anything to calm his headache. Speaking of the headache... _Ow. Ow ow ow ow._ His hands reached up to cradle his head, gripping his hair and his face hard. _Feels like a drill is trying to bore out of my head._

The human standing in the doorway of the cell cleared his throat, looking down at Rick. Looking up, he smiled at the officer standing in the cell. "Good morning, officer." Rick couldn't help but grin as Garrett's frown deepened. After almost four years of getting to know the police manning the station, he still couldn't help but needle the ten-year veteran about landing the morning shift. Especially given that Detective Lieutenant Garrett Michaels was more than given to sleeping in.

"Rick." Garrett responded curtly, giving him a brief nod. "Heard you mugged a salarian last night," he added, reaching down to help the hung-over ex-Marine up to his feet. "Maybe your luck finally ran out."

Grinning slightly, Rick turned to Garrett. "You already looked at the tapes, didn't you?"

The officer's face tightened slightly as he glared at Rick, before giving a small shrug, turning back to his table. "Yeah. Technically, he did throw the first punch." Punching a button, he synced his eye-screen with the station computer, the first thing he did when he entered the station. "One of these days, I'm not gonna be able to hide you behind technicalities, though."

Rick nodded slightly, digging his fingers into the bridge of his nose. "Can we skip the normal stuff and get to the part where you let me go?" He complained, avoiding opening his eyes and aggravating his major headache.

"Bludworth, I gotta go by the book. Otherwise, I get canned," said the officer, adjusting his eye-screen so that the micro-camera embedded in it is pointing directly at him. Rick couldn't help but let a sigh at his friend's insistence. After ten trips to the station drunk tank for what he called 'Salarian Incidents', Garrett had always pulled the same stuff: Police statement, a statement of intent to not press charges, then he'd be free to go.

"Alright, alright," Rick sighed, moving his hand away from his eyes and staring directly into the micro-camera.

Garrett almost nodded encouragingly, before he remembered the camera was still on. "Name please?" He asked brusquely, trying to sound every inch of the officer he tried to be. Even though the camera couldn't see him, he stood at near-military attention, hands at his sides while his feet were shoulder-width apart. Rick merely shook his head at the officer slightly, frowning as his friend tried and failed to look official.

"My name is Richard Bludworth, and I was brought in last night for a public disturbance with a salarian." His lips curled up in a small smile as Officer Michaels frowned at him and made a small cutting motion.

"He spent the night at the station for public intoxication," began Garrett, enunciating clearly so the mike embedded in the camera could pick it up.

After the report had been filed, and Garrett deactivated the camera, the officer frowned at his friend. "Rick..." He started, but the other man merely put his hand up to stop the oncoming lecture.

"I know, I know, getting thrown in the tank every few months isn't good for my record," Rick stated, looking into Garrett's eyes. "As far as I'm concerned though, all ten times I was walking home, and I was assaulted by a salarian or other alien species." The man shrugged slightly, putting his hands in his pants pockets. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm… not concerned."

Garrett's frown deepened at Rick, but he knew that the man was completely incorrigible when it came to this. The ex-marine was about as stubborn as the most hardened of criminals when it came to things like this. "Just worried, Rick," the officer said, folding his arms.

Nodding slightly, Rick, pulled his hands out of his pockets and held out a hand to Garrett. "As far as I'm concerned about _that_, it just means you're a good friend." The officer glanced down at the hand, before reaching out to take it.

"You're a good friend too, Rick."

When Rick finally made it home, after getting his car out of the parking lot at Jax's (which was surprisingly still there), he walked into the front door, headed straight for the refrigerator, pulled out a can, popped the tab, and drank deeply. When he set the can down, he made a small face, shivering slightly. "Damn health shakes…" he murmured, staring down at the can. "Two hundred years since they first made the dang things, and they never managed to make'em taste better."

Rummaging around more in the kitchen, he pulled down a small pan, and soon the smell of eggs filled the small house as Rick made himself an omelette to wake up, tossing in cheese, some cold sausages, and guacamole.

Still eating the fresh food, he took a seat down in front of his extranet terminal, selected one of his many throw-away identities, and began to check the mail account he set up for his ad. Bills were piling up, and he needed to find something to do. Mercenary work wasn't glorious, but a good stint often managed to net him enough money for a good extranet connection, food, and the money he owed on his place.

"Lessee… Tenth Street… Tenth Street… Tenth Street..." he murmured to himself, deleting the messages that the local leader of the Tenth Street Reds sent him. He had sworn not to work for the bastards after they tried to gun him down. Fortunately he'd managed to teach them a lesson. Gritting his teeth, he looked through the rest of his messages, but all that was there was just a bunch of messages from the Reds. And he wasn't about to risk his life to try and get money.

"Damn," he growled, smacking the keyboard with his palm as he swivels slightly, frowning deeply as he glared across the room. He always hated the fact that he couldn't advertise his real name. Last time he had, he'd attracted the attention of the Tenth Street Reds and other groups like the bastards.

"Guess I'll just have to send out a general ad..." he groused, beginning to form the message. Mercenaries were permitted in the Systems Alliance, but he wasn't desperate enough as to throw himself on the commission of the Alliance. Maybe when the rent was six months late, he'd consider himself desperate enough to head back into the military as a merc. Two hours later, his message was sent out, identifying him as an ex-Alliance commando. Almost as an afterthought, he added C-Sec to the list of addresses. More than likely they wouldn't bite, but still… Rick shrugged, eyes darting over the message. Finally feeling satisfied, he tapped in the command, and it disappeared across the extranet.

Leaning back in his swivel chair, Rick let his mind wander a bit. _ExoGeni, Synthetic Insights, hell, even ERCS and C-Sec. If I don't get a hit soon…_ he shook his head slightly. If he didn't get a hit on his message, he'd just head back to the Citadel. There was always plenty of work in the Wards for a merc, even if it wasn't legal... or exciting. And right now, Rick would take pretty much any work that floated his way.

Executor Pallin wrinkled his brow, mandibles clacking together once in a gesture of mild annoyance. "Mercs…" he growled slightly, opening the message, his brow wrinkling even more as he saw the gist of the message. "Human mercs..." he sneers, seeing the title of the message. Reaching down with his hand, one long finger presses against the comm button. "I'd better have a talk with Captain Anderson..."

Rolling his eyes, the Executor settled back in his chair after the chat with the Alliance captain, mind whirling across several cases. First was the return of Garrus Vakarian to C-Sec. Garrus had finally come back after the Saren investigation, but he was a lot more eager to snare the criminals, any way possible. _I'd have thought the investigation would have given him a little more patience..._ the turian thought. _Instead, he just seems more… what's the human saying? Grunge-hor?_

Giving his head a shake, Pallin turned his thoughts to the extra-net message. "Well, I suppose an ex-Alliance commando would be better at taking orders than Vakarian would be..." he grumbled, hands tapping commands into the extranet. The identity check came back almost immediately, as befitting his higher access, but to the Executor's disappointment, the identity was obviously a throw-away. Mercenaries were either getting smarter, or this one was a touch above the rest of the mercs he usually dealt with. Hopefully the latter. Pallin wouldn't be able to handle it if mercs got smarter than the average C-Sec officer. _With the people under me, it wouldn't take much_, Pallin thought disapprovingly.

"Shepard. This is Anderson." The captain's voice issued from the speakers in the cockpit, where Joker and Shepard were standing. Joker glanced up at his CO, eyebrows raising up and waggling slightly.

"I'm here Captain. What's the matter?" Shepard asked, ignoring Joker's face.

"I got a message from Executor Pallin. Apparently, he got a message from an ex-Alliance commando. I'm betting it's our friend, Bludworth."

"Wait, we're going to Shanxi to pick up Bludworth?" Joker interrupted, turning his head to stare up at his CO.

"Joker, eyes on the path..." Shepard managed to growl out. Joker made a small noise, before turning his head back to the display panel. John's teeth slowly ground against each other as he continued, "That right, Captain? Seems a bit far-fetched..."

The Captain cleared his throat over the link. "Seeing as whoever sent it used a throw-away identity, I'm more than certain it was Bludworth. He's had enough technical training to be able to create identities like that."

Shepard didn't really understand what the difference was, but he trusted his former CO. "It say where he lives, Captain?" he asked, leaning on Joker's seat.

"Oh yes…" mumbled Joker underneath his breath. "Someone who goes through that much security would just happen to have their address on their mercenary ad that they sent across the galaxy…" He paused, feeling the commander's glare at the back of his head, before shrugging slightly. "Y'know, if he was stupid enough to send a message to C-Sec… he might be stupid enough to include his address. And his entire bio. And maybe his mother's maiden name!"

Shepard barely managed to keep from giving Joker a punch on the shoulder. Not only would it have been bad form, but he might break something. Vrolik's made things complicated. He settled with his basic "Can it, Joker. Why are you giving us this info then, Captain?"

"Because, Commander, he doesn't particularly favor Citadel Security," came Anderson's voice. "It means he's getting desperate for work, if he's sending what amounts to a resume to C-Sec."

"And that means that he'll be more interested in taking our offer for the credits," Shepard continued, his lips pursing slightly. He didn't like the fact that mercs would often take whatever jobs paid the most.

"Actually, considering that the Alliance dishonorably discharged him, I'd say he'd be less than enthusiastic about an entire cruiser knocking on his doorstep…" Joker said, ignoring the glare his commander threw his way. Just because his humor was acerbic, didn't mean that people had to shoot him angry glares every time his opened his mouth. "And I doubt he'd be happy with any kind of Alliance personnel showing up on his doorstep. In fact, I'm sure he'd either A: Bolt, or B: Shoot the crap out of whoever's on his doorstep."

Shepard opened his mouth, clearly ready to shoot down Joker's idea, but the Captain inadvertedly came to his rescue. "Joker's right, John. I'd say contact whoever the Council has watching things on Shanxi, and getting them to talk to him about working for us."

"Yes Captain," said Shepard, stiffly acknowledging his mentor's casual use of his name. He always hated being called John.

The link clicked off as Joker lined up the _Normandy_ for the mass relay shot. "Okay Commander, we're approaching the first relay to Shanxi." As they lined up for the relay, an arc of electricity flowed out to meet the _Normandy_, grabbing the frigate in its grasp. The drive core was suddenly super-charged, the flow of energy through the eezo causing a massive increase in the ship's acceleration, flinging it through space at several hundred times the speed of light. On the bridge, the only way Joker could tell they had just been flung across the relay was a slight kickback in the controls and a small shudder in the ship. "And, we're away. Drift is at twenty hundred K." Joker's hands flew across the controls, keeping the ship running smoothly. "You'd better go call that Citadel contact on Shanxi."

Shepard nodded. "I'll make the message in the comm room. More privacy that way."

"And John," said Joker, glancing back at his CO with wickedly gleaming eyes, "Make sure to tell them not to mention it's the Alliance or Spectres he's helping out."

"Call me John again, Flight Lieutenant Moreau," began Shepard, shooting a glare over at his pilot. "And I'll drop you off at the next admiralty party. With a sign around your neck that says 'Ask me how I saved the Citadel.' "

"Alright, alright Commander," Joker said, wincing slightly. Something like that would make him regret life more severely than the last time he made a bit of a pass at Liara. Shepard hadn't yelled, or done anything else. He'd just shot a glare at Joker that made him shiver just thinking about it. Shepard might be the perfect paragon of the idealistic soldier, ready to lay his life on the line for all, but he was human, just like everyone else.

Liara was waiting in the comm room, her eyes darting up to Shepard, her blue lips curving into a slight smile. "Hello Shepard." She quietly said, dusting off her legs as she stood up, smiling widely at him.

"Liara!" Shepard said, smiling back at her, surprise etched on his face as he walked forward, hand taking hers as he glanced over at the comm station. "What are you doing here?" He asked, leaning down to plant a small kiss on her lips.

"I was merely wondering.." Liara quietly said, her eyes moving up to his after the kiss, "If we would stop for a little longer on the Citadel, next time." A hand reached up to brush the ridges on her head, gently stroking the fleshy appendages as she continued to speak. "I need some time in order to classify the Prothean data discs. I still have no clue what is on them…"

Her lover frowned slightly, before planting a small kiss on her forehead. "Liara, I'd love to stopover on the Citadel for a few weeks. But there's…" He couldn't prevent a sight. "There's too much to do. Maybe if these pirates were gone, I might be able to stop." Looking down into her eyes, Liara thought she detected a hint of sorrow in the blue eyes that reflected her own. "But, we're swamped right now. We're barely able to keep ahead of the Citadel assignments." Reaching up, he brushed his fingers along the ridges by her ears. "Once things calm down a little… I swear, we'll take a few months of shore leave. And I'll tell the Council to shove their assignments up their collective asses."

Liara chewed slightly on her upper lip, eyes gazing into his as she thought it over. _He is.. absorbed in his work_, she thought. _Much like I used to be_. While she looked into his eyes, she briefly entertained the idea of simply leaving the ship when they next made it to the Citadel, but the glint of sorrow in Shepard's eyes convinced her that he meant it when he said that he'd get leave when it was all over.

"Alright." She reached up to gently cup one of his cheeks with her hand, blue lips curving into a slight smile. He blinked a few times, eyelids fluttering slightly, before he returns her smile, his lips pulling into a broad smile.

He leaned down to press a kiss on her cheek, before pulling up and putting his hands on her shoulders. "Now, I have to make a call." He frowned slightly, before reaching down and brushing her cheek with one thumb. "I'll see you when I'm done, alright?"

Liara's eyes widened slightly, and she nodded. "Oh, of course! Forgive me, I was just worried about the artifacts," she said, smiling up at him.

Leaning down again, he let her kiss him lightly on the lips, before he pressed his lips against hers, sealing them together in a tight kiss. After a few moments of the kiss, she pulled away, blushing a deep navy as she takes in a deep breath. "I… I should try to crack those data discs again…" she murmured, slowly walking out of the comm room. Shepard watched her go, his eyes alight with emotion. _Sometimes, _he thought as his hands flew across the console, tapping in the Citadel Security recruiting office on Shanxi, _she can act more nervous than she did when she first said she thought of me as more than a friend._

Rick pulled his vintage Mazda into his drive, eyes narrowing as he saw who was at his door. His house had alerted him ten minutes ago, saying that there was a stranger at his door that refused to leave. The teal-skinned asari glanced back at him, her eyes narrowing slightly as she turned to face him. Rick couldn't help but notice that she was exceptionally beautiful, as most asari were. He shook his head, getting out of his car and holding his hand on his pocket. His compacted pistol comforted him slightly as he walked toward the asari.

"Excuse me," she asked, looking him up and down, "But I'm looking for a Richard Bludworth. Would you happen to know where I might find him?" Rick noticed that while her voice was serene, the serenity didn't extend to her eyes, which were as hard and cold as any hardened warrior's.

Rick nodded slightly to her, his hand gripping slightly on the compacted pistol. If she was looking for him by name, it meant that she was an assassin, or was looking for him by reputation. Neither option was good. "Well, I'm not certain where he is, but I'd be more than willing to take a message for him." The lie smoothly rolled off his tongue, and his lips twitched up in a small smile at her.

Her head gently shook. "I'm afraid that what I have to say is for him only," she said, flattening her outfit down slightly. Rick's eyes noticed that it looked like one of the many futuristic outfits that were all the rage among the Citadel elite.

"Well, if you tell me what it has to do with, I might be able to get him to respond to you faster," he responded, eyes moving up to lock onto hers, his small smile still present on his lips. He knew that the smile didn't reach his eyes, but he couldn't help that.

Her own lips curved slightly into a smile, the blue lips forming a thin, curved line. "Of course.." she said quietly, folding her arms under her chest. "I'm merely seeing if he's interested in accepting an assignment. I'm here on behalf of my client, who seemed very interested in meeting this… ex-Alliance Commando." Pulling her hand up, she checked her omni-tool, apparently checking her offer. "He's willing to pay very well, I might add," her eyes sliding up and down him, the eyelids narrowing as she examined him.

Rick raised one eyebrow, managing to prevent the other one from rising as well. "Well, I think he might enjoy the assignment then…" he murmured, before giving his head a brief shake, the smile reaching his lips again. Reaching out, he gave her his hand. "What did you say your name was, Miss..?" he asked quietly, the smile fading slightly.

Smiling back at him, she took his hand, giving it a firm pump. "My name is Adela V'eno. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bludworth."

**------------------------------------------**

**Shameless, I know. Again, please review if you read. I know I need to work on my writing, so please please please give constructive criticism! I already have the majority of the plot fleshed out, but I do need events to write about! I'm open to ideas and such.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Gathering the Pieces**

The relay sparked to life, the twin hoops spinning at the center building up in speed. With a flash of light, the relay absorbed the power of the incoming starship, leaching away the faster-than-light energy from the ship's drive core. The _Normandy_ reappeared, or became visible again, as it slowed down to a fraction of its former speed, the deceleration being little more than a small jolt to the rest of the crew. Flight Lieutenant Moreau slowly unstuck his jaw, the imagined pain gone. His very first time going through a Mass Effect trip, he had shattered his legs when the initial kick hit them. It had taken nearly five months for his legs to get out of the cast, even with weekly stem-cell injections that had promoted the grow of his bones. But even though it had been on his way to the Academy, he had gritted his teeth and bore the pain even as he put the flight simulators through their paces.

"Commander, we're in the Shanxi system," Joker announced over the PA system, lining the frigate straight to the planet Shanxi. The _Normandy_ responded like a ballet artist, serenely making the course correction and heading straight to the military base.

"Gotcha Joker," replied Shepard, his voice coming from the speaker embedded beneath the holographic flight controls. "I'll go tell our contact that we've arrived in system. Hopefully she managed to get him hooked on whatever we're supposedly hiring him for.

**_Three Days Earlier…_**

Rick didn't skip a beat when she took his hand and called him by his name. Notching his smile into a small smirk, he gave a brief nod to the asari standing in front of him. "Nice to see that you aren't blind," he managed to say, his brain temporarily frozen by her statement. "I was wondering if I was dealing with a pack of idiots," he continued, removing his hand from hers and briskly stepping past her.

"I can assure you that I, and the person I represent, are not 'a pack of idiots'," she smoothly responded, walking a few steps behind him as he walked into his house. Her head turned a little, before she smiled slightly at the military-style order that he somehow managed to obtain. Other than a small shelf of knick-knacks that he'd collected over the years, the entire layout was completely replaceable. Even the clothes he had in his drawers were cheap, gotten from thrift stores that seemed marginally more trustworthy than they normally were. "And I see that you don't conform to the usual human bachelor stereotype."

Rick snorted slightly, turning slightly as he sat down at one of the two chairs at a square table. "And how sure are you that I'm a bachelor?" he asked, eyebrows rising slightly at the asari. "For all you know, I could have a wife or a girlfriend."

The asari smirked back at him, gesturing to the stark grey walls. "Either your partner is a minimalist, military-trained, or you're a bachelor. The first two are the least likely, so I'm just going to assume the third." Taking a seat across from him, she reached up to groom her flanged head. "You humans call it 'Ocan's razor', correct?"

"Occam's razor," he corrected her, reaching onto the table and muting the sounds of the vid, split into four different sections. The human, asari, and turian news networks immediately became silent, but continued to gesture and motion in the background. Steepling his hands after he put the remote down, he smiled at her, eyes narrowing. "Now, let's talk business. What kind of work are we talking about?" His smile faded into a serious expression, finally matching the coldness behind his eyes.

Adela V'eno's smile disappeared as well; her hand disappeared into the small bag at her side. "The kind of work that has to do with pirates. Mainly, stopping them." Her eyes swept into his, as she slid a printout across the table.

Rick calmly looked down at the printout, glancing at the headline before looking back up at the blue woman. "The only people concerned with stopping piracy are the people who enforce the law, and the people who suffer from it," he remarked, throwing the sheet of paper with the headline **_Pirates board freighter with prototype machinery_** back at the woman.

"Both of them pay exceptionally well though," V'eno calmly stated, pinning the paper beneath one finger and slipping it into her bag.

Eyes boring into hers, Rick slowly leaned back in his chair. "Governments and corporations need to fill out forms in order to hire mercs," he said, glancing down at her small handbag. "Judging by the size of that thing, you either didn't bring them, or this is some under the table work."

The asari's lips flickered briefly into a smile, her arms folding themselves onto the table. Rick could feel his eyes being instinctively drawn downward, but he forced them to remain on her eyes. "You are correct, Mr. Bludworth," she quietly lilted, her smile fading a little. "My employer cannot be… 'restrained' by contracts. Some things they may ask you to do would not be thought of in a contract."

Rick chewed on the interior of his lip, thinking at what she just said. Most corporations made even their janitors sign contracts that would prevent them from talking about anything that might come up. He had heard the stories of rogue operators hired by corporations, bringing in people with desirable genes or putting down troublesome employees. The military only hired mercs with dependable and reliable histories (if they hired mercs at all), and sector police didn't have the authority to go after pirates. And if she knew his record and was still looking at him, the military was definitely not it. That only left one willing group that could hire him to go after pirates: corporations.

"Corporations take a big risk by hiring under the table, though," he responded, glancing her up and down slightly, lips pursing together as he shrugs slightly. "They might get a fine for not getting a contract."

V'eno nodded slightly, her eyes glaring into his own. "Still, I think they would prefer a slap on the wrist to more piracy," she shot back, her body leaning forward slightly, the skin-tight dress accentuating her figure. Rick reached up to rub his eyes, managing to still keep from glancing down her dress.

"Alright. How much are we talking about?' he asked, letting his hand fall down.

"I'm not exactly certain, but I'm sure that they will be able to pay upwards of 100,000 credits," she replied smoothly.

Rick raised an eyebrow, lips pursing. "Only a hundred? I can get a hundred for doing business with the Alliance military."

Adela nodded her head, lacing her fingers together in front of her. "We want to be certain that you haven't lost your edge. If you manage to help us with the pirate problem, we'd be more than willing to provide you with money covering your expenses."

"What kind of expenses?" Rick's head was filled with ideas that they'd make him take public transportation. Booking an interplanetary flight wasn't on his top ten things he wanted to do with his life.

"Weapons, ammunition, mods, things like that." Her lips curled into a smile at his small start, followed by a hand smoothing out an invisible crease in her dress.

"What about armor, exoskeletons, medi-gel?" he asked, leaning forward on the table, unable to conceal the eagerness in the act. He had been using an H&K Ursa MK V for the past few years. If this corporation was willing to fund his tastes for armor, he knew that he'd be going on an armor hunt. Maybe he'd find an Armax Predator M MK X.

"We're willing to subsidize armor purchases, but you're welcome to strip whatever you can off the pirate crews." Rick managed to pull himself up from his eager position, linking his fingertips to keep them from drumming on the table. Adela smiled to herself at his over-eager behavior. "As for the rest, we're willing to give you whatever you need. I'm sure that we have stockpiles that are present somewhere…"

It was all Rick could do to keep his tongue from hitting the table. At the last second, he managed to pull back and narrow his eyes at her. "You mentioned an employer earlier. Am I going to meet them?" Hopefully he could get a feel for whoever hired him then.

He caught her eyes widening briefly in surprise, but they were quickly cloaked again. "As a matter of fact, my employer will be here in a few days. I'll pass on that you want to talk to them."

Adela was slightly disturbed by the feral smile the human displayed. She knew plenty of humans, and Shanxi was a human world, but she got a strange feeling from this one. It was as if he was looking forward to the hunt. A feral, untamed human looking forward to hunting down members of his own, and other, sentient species. "Good," he intoned, "I want to look in their eyes when I take the job."

Ela's figure folded her arms across her chest, her C-Sec issue jumpsuit hugging her frame. "Commander, if I were in charge of your mission, I wouldn't take this man aboard."

Shepard's brow wrinkled slightly, his arms clasped behind his back. "Do you have any reason why I shouldn't bring him aboard? And I mean any reason at all." The lenient remark was a lot more open than the Council had given him about Saren, but Shepard wasn't in the mood for crackpot theories right now. If he had told himself about the Reapers right now, he wouldn't believe himself.

The asari's hologram shifted uneasily, before she started speaking again. "He… it was just a feeling. Near the end of the conversation, I felt like he was getting eager. And not just from the talk of armor." Lifting up a hand, she scratched the folds of flesh by her ear. "It was like he was eager to hunt. Eager to do this."

Shepard gave her a curt nod. "Understandable. But, I'm willing to bet that he's eager because this is the first mission that he's been on in a while."

"I don't think so, Commander," she replied, her eyes meeting his through the hologram. "I think he enjoys acting as a bounty hunter. Or enforcer. Or anything that involves him in situations like those salarians…"

"Ela," Shepard interrupted, "I've read his psych report from when he was dishonorably discharged. He's sane, or sane enough to fit in with this bunch."

The asari sighed, placing her head in one hand, while her other hand reached off the hologram's pickup. "Understood Commander. I hope that you manage to turn him around in that department."

Just as the hologram of the C-Sec contact faded, Joker's voice came over the comm. "Commander, we're approaching the Shanxi docking facilities. If I were you, I'd get Liara to put the costume on our good corporate executive."

"Why's that Joker?" Shepard asked, heading towards the door of the comm room. In all honesty, he didn't understand why everyone had to end up warning him about something or other. If it wasn't Joker, it was Anderson.

"Well, the business dress doesn't exactly allow her to wear anything underneath." Shepard stopped just before the door, and he closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. _Oh God help me. Ash is going to go ballistic_. "It's kinda built right into the clothes, commander."

"You're really enjoying this Joker, aren't you?" Shepard groused, pausing before the door to the rest of the ship.

"No, I'm not. But, I will enjoy seeing Ash without underwear," came the pilot's smug reply. Shepard could just imagine the smug look on Joker's face that came with the image.

"And I'll enjoy seeing her beat the crap out of you when she finds out you said that," Shepard shot back, stepping from the comm room and into the rest of the ship. "Besides, the outfit has underwear built in. Or so you said."

Shepard waited for half a second before Joker's sullen response came back, right on cue. "Yes commander..."

Ashley slowly stepped into the throng of beings that crowded the arrivals terminal. No one was allowed in the spaceport unless they had business, meaning that she was invisible as an arrival. On the other hand, Ela was there to brief her on the commando's behavior.

"He's good at controlling his emotions," she said quietly as she walked toward the security terminal, her voice low enough that Ash had to strain to hear it. "He takes being a mercenary very seriously. He's not so much sadistic as he is eager at hunting. I think it appeals to him in some deep way."

Ash gave a brief nod as they passed a security guard. "He was raised on Mindoir before the attack. It was mostly wilderness before the batarian slavers attacked. Afterwards, construction and urbanization took over. Nowadays, the largest city is a city the size of New York in the twentieth."

"So the hunting instincts might be left over from his colonist days?" Ela asked, furrowing her brow. "Might have left a psychological imprint in him, yes? Now, what I would suggest..." Ela continued talking, but Ash mostly toned it out. She was acutely aware of how the dress she wore was little more than a millimeter thick, hugging her body closely. Whoever the dress had been tailored for, they either had a smaller bust, or they had enjoyed flaunting their cleavage. She felt like a piece of meat, what with all the men, and some of the women, staring at her breasts. Ash managed to keep from exploding, but her glares forced some of the people staring to look away.

Eventually, she pulled her attention back to the asari. She was in the middle of a diatribe about predator/prey relationships. "Hey, Ela," she said, raising her voice so the asari could hear her. "How about giving me useful information about him? Like his weak spots?"

"Right," Ela said, turning her head back to Ashley and stopping just before the gate. "His weaknesses are armor and guns. They have an appeal for him that riches and the like don't have." Glancing over at the security gate, she lowers her voice slightly. "And if all else fails, I'm sure his pride as a hunter would help secure his cooperation." Ash blinked in surprise as Ela turned slightly, walking back toward the security exit that she had come through.

Shaking her head slightly, Ash reached up and touched her hair, finally having let down her shoulder-length hair. _I don't look anything like myself…_ she thought, but that was why she had done it. If Bludworth had been paying attention to the news at all over the past two weeks, he was sure to recognize her and put two and two together. This way, she might be able to lure him into a place where he wouldn't be able to run.

When she passed through a security gate, she looked for the sign with her assumed name on it. Sure enough, a tall, non-descript man was holding a sign that read _Fletcher_, her assumed last name. Walking toward him, she shifted her bag to her left hand and held out her right hand for a shake. "My name is Alice Fletcher," she said, treating him to her biggest smile.

The man let the sign fall to his side, his own hand gripping hers in a strong grip. His lips twitched into something that looked like a smile, if you thought that lips twisting up counted. "Hello Miss Fletcher," he calmly said, crumpling the sign on his side. "My name is Richard Bludworth."

Ash couldn't help but do a double take at the man. Even though she had memorized his features in his old academy photo, he still looked different enough that she hadn't recognized him. His face was sharper, more angular. His body was leaner, as if he hadn't been eating a lot of fatty foods. And he wasn't wearing his naval fatigues, just a long-sleeved shirt and slacks. Above all, his eyes in the photo had been good-natured; these ones were cold and hard, looking more like steel than storm-clouds. His smile widened even more as his eyes met hers, giving her hand a firm shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Fletcher."

Rick could tell that Alice was surprised to see him. He could also tell that she wasn't used to wearing the dress that she wore. He wasn't sure how he knew, but she somehow looked… uncomfortable in the outfit. Whether she was used to less body-hugging clothes, or used to a completely different set of clothes remained to be seen.

"I wasn't expecting you here, Mr. Bludworth," she said, her smile remaining on her face, even though it looked a little strained. Rick managed to keep his eyes from drifting down from her face, but it was even more of a fight than with the asari. At least with her, he had been able to use the fact that she was a different species to keep himself uninterested.

"I wanted to meet my future employer myself…" he said, the smile slowly disappearing as he turned and began to walk out of the spaceport, the executive following close behind him. "Besides, your negotiator made it clear that there would be further negotiations when you got here. I was hoping that it wouldn't be too long before you got here." His leather boots hit the pavement as he walked outside, moving to his parked Mazda. The car doors flipped open, moving up on the hinge instead of out from the car.

"Really? Sounds like you managed to get on her good side," she quipped, getting into the car and completely disregarding the hand he gave her to help steady her. Shaking his head, he sat down in the driver's seat. "But, anyways, I'm just here to make sure that you're going to be all set for the mission ahead."

Rick nodded his head, gunning the motor as he drove away from the spaceport. "Too true.." he muttered. "Too true.."

-----------------------

**Review? Please? At least a few comments. C'mon people....**


	4. Chapter 4

**All Gathered in One Place**

Rick drove fast, and he made sure to hug to hug the curb. His Mazda was the one thing that he had taken with him, from world to world. The vintage 2150 model had four independent, computer controlled wheels that had a dedicated motor and power source, making them into one of the most powerful vehicles in history. That was before contact with the Citadel races led to the introduction of grav-cars among the Systems Alliance, and the decline of wheeled vehicles in the human race. The last organization that still used wheeled vehicles was the Navy, in a strange twist of fate.

Still, while Rick drove in excess of 150 kilometers per hour, he prevented from putting the car through its rigorous paces, in consideration to the woman in his front seat. Although, in all respects, she seemed to enjoy the ride, if the grin on her face was anything to judge. The conversation in the car was almost non-existent, seeing as he was too busy concentrating on the road, and she seemed to be gripping the car seat in either fear or excitement.

Pulling on the wheel of the car, he pulled into the driveway of his house, the dirt crunching under the Mazda's wide, off-road tires. Thumbing the gel finger-print analyzer, Rick shut down the car, quickly getting out to help Miss Fletcher out of the vehicle. She briefly favored him with a withering look, but took his hand as one leg planted firmly on the gravel driveway.

"I'm not a doll," she quietly said, pulling her hand away from his as she fully stood, brushing a lock of hair from her forehead. Rick rolled his tongue around in his mouth, managing to bite back an acerbic comment. "Although, I have to admit that it was fun ride…" Miss Fletcher added, biting down on her lip and letting the comment trail off.

Rick nodded slightly, his eyes glancing back to the Mazda. "Had that thing since I was dishonorably discharged..." he muttered, pocketing the remote. He noticed Alice glancing back at the car, before walking forward with him into the house, his boots crunching against the pavement. Alice followed; wincing slightly as she almost fell, obviously not used to high heels.

When Rick opened the door, she raised her eyebrows, glancing around the entire place. "Well," she said quietly, looking over the military neatness, and precision. "I think that you took the military a little too seriously…" she joked, glancing over and grinning slightly at him.

His eyes glanced over to her, a small spark leaping into his eyes as he smiled at her. The woman seemed to be military trained, or at least familiar with military protocol. "I never really depended on anything else other than the military," he fired back, taking a seat on a chair, before closing his eyes. When he opened them next, the spark was gone, back to the neutral steel-gray that had accompanied his eyes before. "And now, we get down to business. Your representative said that I'd be paid a hundred grand. I'd like at least fifteen grand as a retainer." He gestured around his house, eyes still focused on her face. Despite the obviously clinging dress, he refused to be distracted by any of her form. He wouldn't be one of the many men taken in by an alluring woman in a dress. "Additionally, I need to see the quality of weapons and mods that you'd be furnishing me with, just to see if I can work with them."

Ash blinked slightly at the turn of events. When he'd gotten out of the car, she had seen a smile that wasn't marred by his eyes; in fact, his eyes actually added to the smile, a small spark of mirth present in them. The swift and sudden change seemed more than a little disconcerting, even more than if she had never seen the spark to begin with. Shaking her head, she triggered the omni-tool that Shepard gave her, taking down notes that he gave her. Glancing up at him as he concluded in his monologue, she smiled slightly.

"Well, since you're ex-military, then you'd appreciate what we managed to get. Some of the top-line stuff, even a few things that the best companies have yet to release." She smiled at Bludworth, managing to make it real this time.

He chuckled a little, scratching at his chin, his eyes still remaining neutral. "Glad to see that you know better than compare it to Alliance crap. Hell, I'm willing to bet that they still buy Lancers from Hahne-Kedar. They might make decent armors, but their weapons and gear are slightly better than crap."

Opening her mouth to confirm that yes, they still bought Lancer rifles; she suddenly remembered that she wasn't supposed to be Ashley Williams, Gunnery Chief. She was supposed to be Alice Fletcher, corporate executive. "I'm not sure… but I have a feeling that they still do," she managed to say, glancing down at her omni-tool briefly. "So… is there anything else that my representative said? I'm afraid I was quite busy during the flight here, and didn't have time to talk to her."

Nodding his head, Bludworth smiled again, his arms folding slightly on the table as he leaned forward. "She promised that I'd get a top-line armor set. She also said that I'd get a private craft, instead of having to take the chances of going through travel without any backup."

Ash made note of the armor set, but looked up and frowned slightly. "We just have our ship. Of course, it's going to be going after the pirates as well."

Rick narrowed his eyes slightly, his arms relaxing slightly as he stared over at her, his eyes slowly becoming a storm. "Your rep didn't say anything about a team. Who's on this team? Anyone I would know?"

She bit her lip, eyes glancing around as she rolled her shoulders slightly. "Well... I'm sure that you'll know a few of them by reputation. I'd rather save that for a surprise though. Especially since some of them are… rather famous." She was really getting the hang of this corporatese talk, something that she had scolded the commander about. It really was just a way of convincing people that they wanted what you wanted.

He shifted slightly in his seat, his eyes returning to their neutral tone. "I think that I'll reserve judgment on that." Tapping on his chin with a finger, he nods slightly. "If you say I'll know them when I see them, I'll take the job."

Ash couldn't help but smile slightly, her hands linking together. She had managed to convince Richard Bludworth, the lone survivor of Mindoir and the hero of Elysium to join their crew. Needless to say… when he found out that they were Alliance, the Commander would have hell to pay.

"Well, it was certainly a pleasure to meet you, Mister Bludworth, and I…" her voice trailed off as she noticed something on the collection of knick-knacks. Narrowing her eyes, she sucked in a breath as the realization hit her. "Is that… an old Heckler & Koch MP5?"

Turning in his seat, Rick allowed himself a small grin as he saw what she was pointing at. "Actually, it's a Heckler & Koch UMP. Better design than the MP5, and it fired a better caliber bullet. .45 caliber." Standing up, he reached up and hefted the submachine gun in his arms, holding it correctly. "Best damn SMG ever made, in my opinion."

Nodding her head, she gave a small smirk. "The UMP's firing speed at a .45 caliber was only 400 rounds per minute though. The 9-milimeter version had a higher firing rate. I'd rather put more bullets on a target than anything else."

Rick's head whipped around to stare down at her, his eyes hard and flinty. Ash bit down on her lip as she cursed herself out. He was suspicious now. _Of course he would be. I just broadcast that I have military experience_. "What company did you say you worked for again? I don't think that I caught that..."

Ash silently cursed in her mind, folding her arms as she glanced up at him. "I work for ExoGeni, of course." She said, taking the name from the Feros corporation. She could only hope that he didn't realize she was making it up. Her beginners luck had finally run out though. His eyes narrowed even more, obviously not buying anything.

"You look… familiar…" he growled, the noise coming from the back of his throat, one hand reaching up to pull her hair back into its traditional bun. "Well well…" he breathed out, folding his arms as he let her hair go. "Ashley Williams. No wonder you looked familiar." Glancing down at his UMP, he reached up to slowly set it on the shelf again, before his hand came down with a fully extended pistol. _Oh crap, a Razer. Late model too_.

"And now, I think you're going to go back to the damn Commander Spectre, and tell him I'm not interested," he said, his voice literally coming out as a snarl.

"Bludworth, I can explain," she began, but she was cut off by him raising the pistol, sighting down the barrel. His breathing was hard, ragged, obviously affecting his vision as he glared down the pistol at her.

"I don't want an explanation! I want you, to get the hell out of my house!"

Ash held up both her hands, trying to appear to surrender. In reality, she was hoping to get him to let his guard down, let her get closer to the pistol. She moved closer to him, managing to somehow get her lip trembling in that way most hostages managed to do.

"Listen…" she said, her voice hitching slightly. "I was just sent here to talk to you. If you want to get rid of me, talk to Commander Shepard."

"Why would I talk to him? He'll just try to get me to become some flunky for the Alliance, or the Council." Bludworth backed up slightly, the pistol still leveled at her chest. His teeth were gritted together, his breathing still causing his hand and pistol to shudder, but not enough to give her an opening.

"He might decide that you're not worth the effort. He might just leave you alone." Ash responded, holding her ground for now. She had to somehow get the pistol from him, prevent him from shooting her.

"The Alliance doesn't leave people who are useful to them. They thought they could use Cerberus. The Alliance won't stop anything." He growled, his eyes continuing to stare at him. "Look at the biotics. Either they went to the BAaT, or they were rounded up and placed into government supervision."

"Shepard isn't like the higher ups. He's more down to earth. He knows when to let people go, and when to pursue. If you talk to him, he might decide to let you go…" she slowly advanced forward, her hands making their way down to her sides.

"Really?" he shot back, his eyes a thunderstorm. They occasionally flashed with anger, but they remained clouded. "Would you swear it? Absolutely swear on your life? Or maybe your grandfather's grave?"

Her own advance paused when he brought up her grandfather. Ash struggled for breath as she tried to think, tried to reason. All she could see was his face, his expressionless face. Without even thinking, her hand shot out, surprising him and her both. Both of their hands struggled over the pistol, struggling to gain an advantage. Ashley cocked back a fist, aiming to punch him straight in the nose, but he caught her fist, using his superior strength to slowly force the pistol to point at her. His eyes became hooded, distant, and Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams knew for certain that she was going to be shot.

Two shots rang out in the room. Ash closed her eyes, preparing to make her peace with the Lord.

"Put the pistol away," came a very familiar voice. Rick's hand released the pistol, stepping away from Ashley. She cracked open one eye to see Shepard standing in the doorway, pistol in hand, aimed straight at Richard. He was glaring daggers at Shepard, but the pistol made sure that the ex-Major obeyed him.

"Go ahead and shoot me, Spectre Shepard. I never was one to wait around for death to come and find me," Rick growled, still glaring at him.

Shepard merely glanced at the chair. "Why don't you sit down? I'm sure we can talk this over."

"I'm not one to listen to people who trick me, Shepard," Rick shot back, his teeth baring in a feral snarl, his eyes locked on the pistol. "Or cooperate with people who have a pistol pointed at me."

"Surprised you haven't died yet," the Commander lightly responded, putting the pistol back into its slot. The weapon compacted, returning to the storage state that so many weapons went to. "We don't want to kill you. In fact, we want your help."

"If you want my help, why not ask me instead of tricking me?"

"Because," Ash calmly stated, lowering her pistol, "We weren't sure if you would kill whoever we sent to talk to you."

Rick glanced over at Ashley, his chest burning. _Really? Is the Alliance that scared of me that they would try to trick me into being hired?_ "If you were scared about that, what were you going to do when I discovered you tricked me?" He glanced at the pair of them, a smirk distorting his lips. Ashley and Shepard traded looks.

"We… never… thought about that…" Shepard slowly said, turning his gaze back to Rick, eyes narrowing slightly.

"I can see that." Rick shot back, his sides still burning with repressed laughter. "Still, I'd say that coming and talking to me is better than trying to trick me." He turned to glare at Ash, who kept from giving him the one-finger salute.

"You still tried to shoot me," she angrily said, eyes glaring up at him.

Rick shrugged slightly, gesturing at the pistol clutched in her hands. "Razer isn't loaded. You can check."

Williams glanced down at his pistol, sliding out the magazine to confirm that yes, it was empty. Frowning, she tossed the empty pistol back at him. "Why did you bring it down then?"

Rick caught the pistol, pocketing it as he raised both eyebrows. "I wanted to get you out of my house. It wasn't my intention to shoot you. If I had wanted to shoot you, I would have kept the UMP down."

"UMP? What in God's name is a UMP?" Shepard asked, glancing between them. Rick merely glanced up at the submachine gun in answer, with Shepard following his gaze and frowning slightly. "I see…"

"And now, I think it's time for both of you to leave..." Rick said, folding his arms across his chest as he stared at Shepard and Williams, his eyes slowly fading back to their normal neutral style.

Shepard shook his head slightly, looking at Rick throw a practiced eye. "We're not leaving until you consider our deal. You were well and ready to take the deal when it was a corporation, why not the military? We're just as willing to give you our credits as a corporation is. What keeps you from taking them?"

"Other than the fact that you lied to me? The fact that you're Alliance is one." Rick growled, folding his arms across his chest. "And that the Alliance has no loyalty from me ever since they dishonorably discharged me for something I didn't do."

"Bullshit," shot back Ash, unable to hold back her comment. "You were discharged for killing those salarian civilians. The military tribunal found you guilty, and stripped you of your rank and discharged you."

Rick shot a glare at Williams that looked like it could have melted through the _Normandy's_ hull. "The Admiralty had more on its mind than determining my innocence when they went through the motions of a tribunal."

"Mr. Bludworth, we're not asking you to do this because of any kind of loyalty to the Alliance," Shepard said, shooting a glare at Ashley as well. _She needs to learn when to keep her mouth shut_, he thought, frowning at her as he folded his arms as well. "We're asking you to do it for the credits, and for the fact that the Alliance would owe you for the fact that you helped take out a group of well organized pirates. They might even decide to throw more merc work your way."

Rick raised both eyebrows, finally interested. Unfolding his arms, he turned his gaze to Shepard, appraising the Spectre with his eyes. "Really?" he asked, "Now that seems very interesting. The Alliance would be willing to put me on their trusted group of mercenaries?"

"Alliance or Citadel," Shepard confirmed, his eye meeting Rick's. "I'm more than sure I can pull some strings to give you preferred status too."

"Commander, I…" began Ash.

"Stow it, Chief! I'm not in the mood to hear more vague warnings," Shepard interrupted, shooting her a glare. Rick's eyes remained neutral, but one fist slowly balled, revealing his true mindset.

"Anyways, what were you planning on me doing in this… pirate hunt?" asked Rick, his voice still carefully neutral.

"We wanted you to infiltrate the bases before my team would assault them, and find information that we might miss otherwise." Shepard said, taking a seat at Rick's table.

"So, you need an infiltrator, or a commando." Rick nodded his head slightly, taking a seat at the table. "I assume that your contact told you my conditions of working for the corporations, Systems Alliance, or Spectres, or whoever you're working for?"

Shepard shook his head, frowning slightly. "I didn't hear about the conditions. I assume that it's weapons'n'armor deal? That is, I provide you with the tools to do your job as well as pay?"

Rick nodded his head again, staring across the table at Shepard. "That's right. Except instead of tools, I get weapons and armor, mods and stuff like that. Bought by me and covered by you, or provided by you. Not concerned with either, but I want good stuff."

Shepard raised an eyebrow slightly, tilting his head as he looked at Rick through his blue eyes. "So… you're interested in taking our deal now?"

"Yeah, I'm interested," Rick said, folding his arms on the table. "Interested enough to agree that I'll come with you. Normal military pay of mercs, weapons and armor deal including mods." His eyes settled on Ashley. "And I don't want do deal a lot with the crew of the _Normandy_."

"How do you know we took _Normandy_? We might have taken a regular shuttle to get here, or booked passage to keep you from getting suspicious." Ash asked.

Rick merely grinned widely. "Easy. Occam's Razor tells me that you two didn't come alone."

**----------------**

**Review? Even if it's just saying 'Hey, I'm here and I like your stuff'? Please? It's hard to write when I don't know if anyone is reading my work. And action is coming very soon. Next chapter, most surely.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: I know I said that action would be in this chapter. Well, there's not. Sorry!**

**Old ****Acquaintances**

Rick couldn't help but notice that Shepard's ship, the SSV_ Normandy_, looked rather unimpressive from the outside. Then again, not a lot of thing had ever lived up to their heroic status, especially when it came down to the things man created. Aircraft carriers from old Terra were ugly as hell, but they had commanded a 500 kilometer circle of water around them, and even on land. Rick figured that this was one of the things that were greater than it seemed on the outside.

His lips pulled back into a terse smile as he walked along the gantry to the _Normandy_'s airlock. Last ship he had been on was on the SSV _Waterloo_, and the frigate had been about the size of the _Normandy_. The turian influence on the ship was undeniable, especially in the thruster design. Rick had never been a ship aficionado, but it was obvious to him that the frigate wasn't fully human-made.

With only a few clothes, personal effects, and his Razer pistol in a duffel bag, Rick turned onto the catwalk, walking into the airlock of the frigate, waiting for the decontamination to finish. He coughed slightly at the acrid taste of the gasses filtering into the airlock, his eyes watering. _Jeez, what'd some poor sap catch that made them switch to this crap?_ He thought, his eyes squinting as the airlock popped open and a neutral female voice called out "Logged. New arrival. Welcome to the _Normandy_, Mr. Bludworth."

"Hey, easy there with the greeting, beautiful. I might get jealous," came what Rick assumed was the pilot's voice, looking up the vessel to smirk slightly. A scruffy, unshaven face peeked around the pilot's chair, a wry smirk on his face. "Welcome to the _Normandy_, Rick. It's a little more interesting than your average ship, but I have a feeling you got crazy on your last ship. What with the killings and all. My name's Joker, by the way."

Rick laughed slightly, the noise filling out the cockpit of the ship. "If I hear a few more jokes like that, I'm sure I'll go crazy. Haven't heard any that bad since I was in boot, and those were bad enough."

"Oh, ouch," Joker said, smirking slightly as he held a hand over his chest. "You make fun of my jokes, you pierce my heart, Rick. You really do."

Rick returned the smirk as he turned down the spinal corridor, one hand in his pocket as he approached the bridge of the ship. Unlike most ships, he mused, the bridge was further back into the ship. Not a normal human design, but more practical from a combat standpoint. If the bridge was further recessed, then key personnel wouldn't be killed if the nose of the ship was crushed, penetrated, or otherwise destroyed.

He spotted the Commander standing on a platform overlooking the rest of the bridge crew. "Commander Shepard," he said, setting the bag on the deckplates and snapping a mocking salute. "Permission to come aboard, Commander?"

Shepard glared down at him, and Rick couldn't help but grin widely at him, wide and mockingly as he looked back up. "You can stop saluting now, Mr. Bludworth," he said, stepping down from the platform as he approached Rick.

Letting his hand fall down to pick up his bag again, he slung the duffel over his shoulder, the grin evolving into a small smirk. "Thank you, Commander. Wasn't sure if you were such a stickler for decorum that civvies might have to salute." _Or that you're gonna make me drop and give you fifty_, he thought, the smirk widening slightly.

"You can cut the crap, Bludworth," Shepard said, his tone brusque as he walked down the stairs to the crew quarters, Rick five steps behind him as they rounded the corner of the elevator. "This is the main crew room. The table," he said, indicating the conference table underneath the flickering monitor, "is mostly for meals and whatnot. Sleeper tubes are in that corridor," he added, pointing down the sleeper area. Moving his finger, he pointed at the medical bay. "And there, we have the medical quarters. You're gonna need to go get checked by Doctor Chakwas before you can mingle with the rest of the crew."

"Got it, Shepard," Rick grumbled, glaring at the door to the medical bay. He always hated getting physicals. Always the old men with the saggy, shapeless faces, white lab coats, and cold fingers. And rubber gloves… He shivered slightly at his thoughts, pulling his duffel bag up further as he walked into the bay. "Freaking docs…" he mumbled under his breath, tossing his bag next to one of the examination tables and taking a seat on it. Glancing over at the robotic arm, he shivered, remembering the cold precision of the surgical arm.

"I take it that you are Richard Bludworth?" came a female voice. Rick jumped slightly, whipping his head around to look at the gray-haired woman who spoke.

"Ummm… yeah…" he said, folding his arms as he gazed at the nurse. Glancing around slightly, he piped his voice up. "Listen, Nurse, when is Doctor Chakwas going t-"

"I am Doctor Chakwas," came the curt reply, the woman not even bothering to look up from her datapad, writing something with a stylus. "I assume you were picturing an old man wearing a white lab coat?"

"N-No…"

"Right," said the good doctor, looking up from her datapad and giving him a thin smile. "Well, I am here to evaluate you, see if you are combat ready, and if all your military vaccinations are in check."

"I can tell you that my subdermal translator is still up to date." Rick said, folding his arms across his chest as he looked down at himself.

"Subdermal from when you first joined the Navy?" She asked, glancing up in surprise. "I thought that they needed to be replaced every six years."

Rick couldn't help but scratch at his ear, trying to think if his implant had ever bothered him. "Well… dunno. Mine's still working, and it's been just over… twelve years since I got it." _Probably wanted to make more money by short-changing the military_, he thought, shaking his head slightly.

"Well, I currently don't have the supplies to replace your subdermal," Chakwas said, clipping her datapad onto her belt. "Now, let's begin the physical." Walking over to the console beside him, she peeled a small ultra-sound patch from the cover, slapping it over his throat. "Cough." She ordered her tone entirely neutral.

Rick was unprepared for the sudden slap on his Adam's apple, and he had no trouble complying with the doctor's order, coughing loud and hard after the smack to his throat. "Ow…" he dryly commented, reaching up to gently massage his throat.

"Oh, be quiet," the doctor snapped, turning to the console as it threw up a hologram of the inner workings of his throat.

Continuing to massage his throat, Rick pulled off his shirt, sitting bare-chested in the med-bay as the doctor continued with her scan. _Her hands aren't cold, but her bedside manner could use a bit of work_, he thought to himself, giving another involuntary jerk, his head turning away as Dr. Chakwas drew blood.

_Hate freaking needles_, he thought, glancing down at his bare arm as the Doctor pulled the needle out of his skin. "Hey, Doc," he calmly said, eyes flicking over to the gray-haired woman, "Any reason why your bedside manner is a bit brusque?"

Turning slightly, the Doctor shot him a glare that made him quail, her gaze being enough to drill through the Citadel's hull. "Because," she said, jamming the hypodermic into an analyzer, "I was present when those four salarians were autopsied. In all honesty, do you think that any medical officer would be willing to forgive you for slaughtering innocent civilians?"

Rick couldn't help but blink at the sheer venom in the doctor's voice, his brain halfway through with a retort before he could clamp down on his jaw, instead settling for a few mumbled curses underneath his breath.

On the last curse, she jammed something into his mouth, followed by the command "Exhale."

Inhaling through his nose, he let out a long, pronounced breath, the oxygen counter beeping quietly as it took his oxy levels and lung capacity. When it stopped beeping, Dr. Chakwas pulled it out of his lips and examined the readout.

"Hmmmm…" she quietly mumbled, glancing up at him. "Tell me, Mr. Bludworth, have you lived at altitude anytime over the past few months?" After he gave her a shake of his head, she turned her gaze back down to the readout. "How about a wind or brass instrument? You don't have a trumpet packed away in your effects, do you?"

Shaking his head again, Rick piped up, "No, but I do play the harmonica. Soothes the soul to play a little, y'know?"

The good doctor sniffed disdainfully, putting the oxy counter back onto the table. "I suppose so… Now, we can continue wi-" Her voice stopped as the door to the storage area behind the med-bay_ whooshed_ open, her head glancing back at the noise.

Rick glanced over at the open door, seeing a pale-blue skinned asari standing in the doorway, wearing a skin-tight outfit. Normally, this would make a male of any species begin to drool slightly, but Rick was used to seeing men and women naked, since the shower rooms were co-ed on most ships.

"Dr. T'Soni," began Dr. Chakwas, her voice assuming a warmer tone as she turned to face the asari, "Nice to see you've rejoined the living."

Rick smiled slightly as the asari blanched slightly. "M-my apologies, Dr. Chakwas, if I appeared to be dead! I was merely absor-" She began, her tone agitated and apologetic

"It's quite all right, Liara," came the soothing response, the gray-haired doctor actually smiling somewhat. The smile disappeared when she glanced over at Rick, who merely tried to look as meek and unassuming as possible, his own smile disappearing in a flash. "Where are my manners? Mr. Bludworth, meet Doctor Liara T'Soni, our resident expert on Protheans. Liara, this is apparently our newest addition to the crew, Mr. Richard Bludworth."

Rick politely inclined his head to the asari, his face somber. "Nice to meet you, Doctor T'Soni. Heard a lot about you on the vids, and read even more on the extranet."

Liara smiled at the rough and tumble human, bowing her head back to him. "It is nice to meet another human on personal terms. Hopefully you'll forgive my blundering into your physical, Mr. Bludworth. I merely needed to talk to the Commander."

"Last I saw, Shepard was looking over the galaxy on the edge of space," Rick said, managing to keep his face somber as the asari blinked haphazardly. Before she could voice her question, he merely said, "Up the stairs. He's looking at the map right now."

"Ah.." Liara said, bowing her head to Rick again. "Thank you for telling me. I should probably go talk to him now." When she finished speaking, she hurriedly walked out of the med-bay.

Rick watched Liara go out of the corner of his eye, before flicking his vision back to Dr. Chakwas, his face remaining somber as he said, "Doctor? Can we finish the physical?"

"Hm? Oh yes," said the doctor, glancing over at Rick with a veiled look. "We'd better finish what we started…"

About half an hour later, Rick walked out of the med bay, rubbing his thigh. When she was testing his reflexes, Dr. Chakwas missed his knee and hit a nerve in his leg, resulting in his entire leg going numb. He hadn't said a word, but he knew that his expression had given himself away. _So, look out for the Doc and the Chief_, he thought, giving his leg a soft hit to try and bring back the feeling in it.

"Hey, Bludworth," someone called out, making Rick's head turn toward the sound, his gray eyes glancing over to see Ashley Williams.

"Well, speak of the devil," he muttered as he walked over to her. "You're the last person I'd expected to run into, or call my name. Commander ask you to give me a tour?" For half a second, he juxtaposed what he thought of as 'Ash', or her face and appearance when he first saw her, with 'Chief Williams'. It soon faded to her serious look, hair drawn up into a tight bun.

Williams' facial expression answered his question, at least partially. "The Commander didn't 'ask' me, he _ordered_ me to give you a tour. I wouldn't have done it otherwise."

Rick couldn't help but roll his eyes at her statement, throwing his duffel bag over his shoulder, following after the Chief as she made it to the elevator. Unlike some of the elevators he had been in on Earth (Some of those could traverse a skyhook in less than 15 seconds, he'd learned), this one appeared to have been made to go the slowest it possibly could. _I could probably crawl through the superstructure faster than this thing.._ he griped to himself, glancing over at Williams for half a second. "And here I was thinking that dress was your normal uniform was your normal uniform aboard this ship…" he couldn't help but say, a glare from Williams sliding the smile right off his lips.

"That was the first dress I've worn in about ten years…" she snarled out, stomping out of the elevator before the door was even fully open.

"Here's the cargo bay," she said, the anger slowly bleeding from her voice as she gestured around the mostly empty area. Rick glanced around in interest, his eyes roving across the wide-open area. There was a Mako, along with an armorer's station and he spotted the requisition officer just in front of the Mako and the door to Engineering. Two engineers were crawling over the Mako, or rather, under it. "In here's our gear lockers, or at least mine, Liara's, and Tali's. You'll get Wrex's old locker, since the bastard was the only one who cleared out his locker. Guess he wanted the stuff in it."

"Free gear, courtesy of stripping it off dead bodies," Rick said, his eyes fixed on the Requisitions Officer, who was stacking what looked like Armax crates. "Sounds like a dream come true. Now, listen, when am I gonna get that armor and the weapons that Shepard promised me?"

Williams glanced over at him, narrowing her eyes as she pointed over at the requisitions officer. "Ask him about it. Commander should have already set you up with armor and whatnot."

Rick gave a nod, giving her a pat on the shoulder. "Don't be a stranger now…" he said absent-mindedly, heading over to the Requisitions officer and immediately becoming immersed in a conversation about what he needed. Best part about it, he mused to himself, was that Officer Jones (The requisition officer's name) didn't even bother giving him prices. After chatting for around half an hour, Rick came away with a set of Predator M armor from Armax Arsenal, a Volkov sniper rifle, a Kassa-made Armageddon shotgun, and a Geth pulse rifle. The final bit surprised him the most, but after he pumped thirty rounds into a circle 10cm across at twenty meters, he absolutely had to have it.

Hefting the cases up, he headed over to a locker that had the name _Urdnot Wrex_ written on it in something bluish that was flaking. Scratching at it with a thumbnail, he sniffed at it, wrinkling his nose at the smell of turian blood.

"Wrex wrote that in some collector's blood. Apparently, the collector stole his family's ancestral armor."

Without even bothering to turn and look at Ashley, Rick shrugged. "I take it Wrex was a krogan? They're the only people I'd peg as being this methodically violent."

Ash smirked at Rick as he turned to face her. "Yeah. Wrex was a krogan. One of the best fighters I've seen in a long time."

Rick nodded his head, and merely continued to stow his new gear into the locker, which smelled suspiciously like old cheese. Just as he finished stowing his stuff away, Shepard's voice came over the intercom. "Rick, report to the cargo bay. We have something that needs to be taken care of before we head off Shanxi."

Rick merely rolled his eyes, before speaking back into the intercom, "I'm already down here Shepard. Just stowing the gear I got from Jones."

The voice paused for half a second, before Shepard's voice cautiously asked, "Who's Jones, Bludwoth?"

"The Requisitions Officer," Rick said, glancing over at Jones in annoyance. "You're telling me that you didn't even bother learning his name, even though his provides most of your special items?"

Shepard's voice sounded out over the intercom, sounding more embarrassed than angry. "Just shut up and get ready. We got a piracy report from Shanxi."

"Oh joy..." Rick muttered, beginning to stuff his Predator M armor into the locker. "I made Mr. By-The-Book prissy.."

"You'll get used to it," Ash remarked as Rick stood up and stretched slightly. "He gets frustrated easily when Tali and me don't do things that he doesn't approve of."

Rick nodded slightly, leaning against the locker. "What about the asari, Dr. T'soni? He get on her case whenever she does things the wrong way?" he asked, managing to prevent eyeing her up and down. Women could be awfully sensitive about even the allusion of a man oogling them, and more-so when they didn't like the man in question. And given William's strength in that brief spat when she posed as a corporate exec, he knew that she'd be one to punch first, ask questions later.

Even without the oogling, it still looked like Ashley wanted to punch something when he mentioned the asari. "Never seen the commander get mad at her. Whether it's because she doesn't do anything wrong, or he doesn't see anything wrong, I don't know." She shrugged slightly, cracking open an assault rifle's covering. "Seeing as scuttlebutt says him and her have been sharing a bunk since after Sovereign's death, I'd say the latter."

"Ah yes, the infamous scuttlebutt…" Rick mused, folding his arms as he settled down to wait for the Commander. Scuttlebutt was a long-standing tradition in the Navy, with people exchanging gossip over meals and showers. Before that, it had been over getting a drink of water. His experience with scuttlebutt rumors was to discount all but the most serious stuff. Shepard sleeping with a member of his crew, he decided, was serious enough to consider. He'd never found the same fascination with asari that other men in the service found, but he wasn't completely immune to their charms. It was just the head ridges tended to turn him off more than the other stuff turned him on.

Ashley watched Richard closely out of the corner of her eye. It wasn't that she didn't trust him… _Alright, I don't trust him,_ she thought, instinctively disassembling an assault rifle. He had been dishonorably discharged, along with being an N7 Major. Anyone who rose above the rank of captain in N7 was either extremely good at what they did, or they were ruthless enough not to care about their team members. From what she had heard, he was definitely the latter, especially given his past.

Both Ashley and Rick's heads whipped around when they heard the elevator chime, the cargo door opening to reveal Shepard fully suited up in his combat hardsuit, along with Liara and a quarian. Rick guessed that it was the Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Ashley snapped a salute as Shepard approached, with Rick merely watching as the commander approached with the two females in tow. _Is it me, or should I be a little leery of being the only male in Shepard's retinue?_ He asked himself, glancing at the two females trailing the Commander.

"Shepard," he said, straightening up as Tali and Liara opened their respective lockers and began to armor up. "What're we doing on Shanxi? Thought that we were going out and hammering at pirate crews."

"Turns out there's a gang here that makes most of its money off of piracy," Shepard said, eyes flicking from Rick to his locker. "We're the closest to it, and the Council asked us if we'd take care of it."

"Hell, I'm getting paid anyways," Rick said, shrugging slightly as he opened the locker and began to suit up. "What's the name of the gang, anyways? Sons of Rich People?"

Shepard shook his head, face contorting slightly. "It's a gang I helped run a long time ago… back when it was just an Earth-based organization."

Rick paused slightly, glancing over at Shepard. "The Tenth Street Reds? Oh crap.." he mumbled, making Ashley and the others stare at him.

"Something wrong?" Tali asked, her visor hiding her expression.

"Oh, nothing," Rick said, offering a sickly sweet smile to her. "Just the fact that me an' them didn't part on the best of terms after I did a job for them."

"Define 'best of terms'," Ash said, turning to face Rick, who merely shrugged.

"Just the fact that they swore to get me in their gang or die trying."

Shepard blinked, turning to face him. "So, if you arrived, and had another recruit in tow…"

"I do not like where this is going," Rick muttered under his breath.

**Review! I can only go so far without reviews! PS: Midnight Reyn, if you get this far, thanks for the review! Hopefully you find him slightly more refined, but I can definitely see him getting along with Wrex. He may show up later on though...**


	6. Chapter 6

**Deceive and Destroy**

"Slouch a bit," Rick whispered out of the side of his mouth. Ash gave him a glare, before dropping into an exaggerated slouch, her shoulders rolling forward and her back bending slightly at the middle.

"This good, Bludworth?" She shot back at him, who merely pursed his lips. Half a second later, his right hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into a half slouch, then a slight slouch. Rick frowned and shook his head as he examined her.

"Screw it," he mumbled, pulling her back up to her ramrod straight posture. "We'll explain it that you just got out of the Navy." Their boots clicked against the sidewalk, Rick's helmet tucked under one arm, with Ash's firmly on her head. She didn't want any of the gangsters making any connections like Rick did, especially after the encounter she'd had with Finch on the Citadel.

"I'm still in the Navy," Ash said, which merely prompted Rick to roll his eyes.

"Yeah, and if they make that connection, you can kiss our collective asses goodbye. We've gotta get inside before they start shooting," he said, ignoring the glare Ash shot his way before moving her head forward.

The three of them walked down a mostly abandoned street in Shanxi's lower-class sector. The houses and apartment complexes weren't high-class, but they didn't have the feel of slums like Earth's lower class districts had. The colonists were all wealthy enough to have afforded the passage to the planet, and that meant that they were able to get some apartments. Didn't mean that the colonists were all clean though.

Rick glanced over to Williams, his teeth tightly clenched. "Alright, listen. You may have dealt with one of the Tenth Street Reds, but they weren't looking for a fight." He indicated the house they were rapidly approaching, the only large house in the entire row of complexes. "We're walking right into their system headquarters. There's gonna be a lot of them, and they won't hesitate to kill us if they feel threatened," he tersely managed to get out, every sense on high alert.

Ash could feel Rick's tension, and while she wanted to dismiss his worries, she knew that he was right. Just because she'd come out without any injuries when the Commander and his team ran into Finch, didn't mean that the rest of the gang wasn't going to be as accommodating. "Roger that," she said quietly. Just because he had a good reason, didn't mean that she had to like him for it.

They finally stopped in front of the door, Rick clenching one fist in nerves as he stared at the door. This was where the Reds had taken him, about eight months ago, when they'd tried to recruit him. Shaking his head slightly, he raised his helmet and banged it against the stainless steel door.

Unlike the old Mob movies, this operation was slightly higher tech. A micro-cam popped out of the doorframe, pointing at the both of them. "Weeellll, looks like ol' Dick Bludworth came back…" came a lazy drawl, the camera disappearing back into the doorframe and the door itself opening. A thug opened the door, with nearly five centimeters and twenty kilos on Rick. "Y'know, I had to take care of that hole you made, Dick. Wasn't ve-"

The man's voice was cut off, due to the fact that Rick's fist crashed into his nose, making the huge goon squeal as his nose audibly went '_crack_!'. "I told you what would happen if you called me 'Dick' ever again, Adams," he snarled, eyes narrowing at the larger man.

Hand over his nose, Adams glared down at Rick, blood seeping through his fingers. "Ya'? Well, da boss warn'd ya wah'd happen if ya showed ya face again…" he spoke, wincing at every syllable in the small phrase.

"Yeah, I remember," groused Rick, folding his arms as his helmet hung down from a pair of fingers. "I also remember him saying that it would happen only if I refused his very generous deal. Well me and my partner," he gestured at Ash, "Are interested in taking him up on his offer."

The thug's eyes narrowed, but he gestured the pair of them inside the door. Ash and Rick went inside, the door closing behind them with an ominous clang, Ashley walking in with her eyes roving around. Rick's eyes, on the other hand, jumped from corner to corner.

They walked through a labyrinth of corridors and doors, until they ended up in a large room, where the walls of a few rooms had been knocked down, making a sort of loading area. Inside were stacked crates, with a few people in red helping stack them. Rick watched them load a little, before he cautiously moved over to the corrugated steel door. Back to the door, he surreptitiously planted a small bead tracker on the door. Just in time.

"Rick!" crowed a man in red, coming down a flight of stairs. "Rick, how nice to see you came to your senses!" He grinned down at the pair of them, flashing a wink over at Ash. "And you brought a fine companion to join us…" he purred, eyes roving over her body as he moved in front of them.

"And if you don't treat her like my partner, I'll be sure to put my boot square in your ass," Rick groused, his eyes narrowing at the man. The leader only chuckled, before turning to Ash and bowing slightly.

"My name is Finch, fine miss," he said, his face breaking into a wide and courteous grin, one hand taking hers as he bent over. Ash couldn't help but stare, wide-eyed, at the man who had tried to blackmail Shepard into freeing a gang member. "And what might your name be, _mademoiselle_?" he asked, a small twinkle in his eye.

Ashley managed to keep from jerking her hand back from Finch's, but she could tell that he had seen a trace of the revulsion on her face by the way his eyes momentarily tightened. "Fletcher," she managed to choke out. "Alice Fletcher."

"Well, Miss Fletcher," Finch said, releasing her hand as he straightened up, "Allow me to be the first to greet you to the Tenth Street Reds."

Ash managed a small smile, but Rick managed to save her. " 'Nuff of the politeness, Finch. Where's my money, and where do we take in the oath or whatever?" Ash glanced over at Rick, who was staring pointedly at the red-shirted man.

Finch's eyes flicked over to Rick, while Ash watched the pair of them. Whatever was between the two of them, it was obvious that Finch was about as suspicious as anyone could possibly be. Probably from whatever job Rick had done earlier. If the man at the door was anything to go by, the group hadn't had a good encounter with the ex-commando.

"We can do it right here," Finch suddenly said, smiling slightly. "You'll get your money once you're a member of the gang, got it?"

Rick nodded his head. "I got it. Just get the big book of gang rules down here, or however you initiate your gangmembers."

"Woah there," Finch said, smiling slightly. "Alice goes first."

Ash involuntarily gulped. "I suppose that I could go first…" she murmured, glancing over at Rick. His face was inscrutable, eyes like cold steel as he returned her glance, fingers drumming on his helmet.

"Alright, but you better hurry up," Rick growled, his voice low and hard. "I don't want to be caught up in the middle of anything."

Ashley's earpiece crackled, letting her hear his words, along with Shepard's response. "We're having some trouble homing in on your beacon. Just stay put."

Finch raised an eyebrow at Rick, before shrugging slightly. "Alright," He reached in his back pocket, pulling a switchblade out from it. "Gimme your right hand, Alice," he said, stretching out his hand as he flicked open the switchblade. Ash couldn't help but glance over at Rick as she stretched out her hand. He held his helmet under his left arm, while his right hand was out of sight on his side.

Grabbing her hand, Finch smiled rather nastily as he steadied the switchblade in his right hand, turning hers over so the back of her hand faced him. "This is where we get the 'Reds' part of it," he happily said, gripping her hand tightly as she tried to tug it away.

"What's the matter?" He taunted, making feints with the knife. "Thought you wanted to join the Tenth Street Reds?"

Williams' tried to tug her hand away, but when she realized what was going to happen, her left fist cocked back and plowed into his jaw. True to his gang roots, he didn't let go, but his grip loosened enough so she could wrench her hand out of his grip.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of metal, and Finch let out a howl of pain as a knife suddenly protruded from his shoulder, blood spurting from the wound as he dropped his own knife. Rick merely snatched another knife from the container on his right thigh, holding it in his hand loosely, ready to throw. "Commander, you better hurry," she heard him quietly say, both aloud and in her ear, along with the clang of his helmet hitting the floor.

"I knew you wouldn't want to join us, Bludworth," Finch snarled, pulling the three inch knife from his shoulder, his face contorting as the serrated blade rips at the muscle on the pull. "Kill'em, boys!" The workers glanced over at the trio, pulling pistols and shotguns from their belts.

Ash heard Rick curse loudly, along with the scream of a warehouse worker as Rick's knife embedded itself in the worker. Ashley added her own curse, pulling her rifle from the slot on her back. The Breaker extended, the butt hitting her shoulder as she lined up the sights. Three rounds drilled through another worker, before she ducked behind a crate.

Two seconds later, Rick rolled behind the crate, his pulse rifle extended as well. "Well…" he quipped, taking a quick peek around the edge, barely getting back before a pistol round slashed through the air where his head was. "This is high time for some explosives."

Ash glanced over at Rick, lips pulling back into a slight grimace. "Well, unless you grabbed some of the Commander's grenades, I'd say we're screwed."

"Funny you should mention that," Rick mentioned, pulling a circular object from a container on his left thigh. Blue lights pulsed around it, and Ashley stared at it for a second, before glancing at Rick.

"You didn't," she breathed, staring intently at his face. He merely grinned at her, before rolling the stubby cylinder on its circular edge, waiting a few seconds before pressing the detonator on his omni-tool. After the explosion, a **c**acophony of screams came, along with a lull in the shooting. Rick rolled out from the crate, firing his rifle as he went, with Ashley not that far behind him.

The workers, already disoriented from the explosion of the grenade, were torn to pieces as the two of them fired into the gathered mass of workers. Several didn't have a chance to scream, while others clutched at ragged bullet wounds and screamed at the top of their lungs. The others recovered enough to scramble behind cover and return fire.

Ash made it behind the crate Rick managed to get behind, with him laying down a screen of rounds from his secure position. "Thanks," she managed to say, clutching her rifle as her heart pounded in her chest. Combat always ratcheted her up, made her feel like she was alive.

Grunting, Rick glanced around the other side of the crate, before pointing at the edge. "Lay down some covering fire," he said, holstering his rifle. "I'm gonna try to circle around them."

Nodding, Ash turned around the corner and sprayed the area with rifle fire, making the enemies duck back under their cover. By the time she pulled back to let her rifle cool down, Rick was already gone. Nodding slightly to herself, she turned and fired short bursts at the group, ignoring the shots that pinged off her barriers.

Her earpiece crackled, sending the commander's voice into her ear. "_We're almost there, Chief. How're you and Rick holding up?_"

"We're doing great, Skipper," she said, ducking back under cover as the workers peppered her position with fire. "Just getting my ass shot at. No big deal." Pointing her rifle around the corner, she fired off a burst, hoping that she might get the incoming fire down.

_"Alright Chief, we're at the door. We're gonna open it the hard way."_ The door suddenly blew inward, a blue haze around it as Shepard charged in, Liara and Tali right behind him, all guns blazing.

Something moving at the back of the room caught Ash's vision, and she paused, peering forward. Rick moved forward, pistol in one hand, a long knife in the other. He fired at the backs of the workers, shooting them down like flies. One charged forward under his pistol sights, but the knife arced up, slashing the man across the throat. The worker 's hands flew up to his neck, and tried to keep the blood from spurting from his neck as Rick kicked him forward.

The five of them quickly mopped up the large room, until just the large worker named Adams' remained. Ashley fired a quick burst, making him duck back behind the crate, while Rick charged forward, stepping over the low crate and bringing his foot down against the crown of his head.

Adams jerked back, his neck exposed as Rick dug the knife in, the spurt of red liquid indicating that he cut an artery. Ash looked away as he stood up and wiped his knife off on his forearm plate. "Now, we just have to get Finch and slit his throat."

"Finch?" Shepard asked, glancing over at Rick, one eyebrow raised. "Chief… is this the same Finch that we ran into on the Citadel?"

"The one and same, sir," Williams said, pursing her lips. "Same creepiness, same expression of sleaziness, and same willingness to do anything." Glancing over at Rick, she gave him a brief nod. "Apparently, he knew Rick from the 'job' that he did."

Rick nodded. "He gave me a job a while ago. When I finished, he didn't give me my money. Said I had to join to get it." He shrugged slightly, folding his arms. "I told him to get stuffed, and made my way out. This Neanderthal," he nudged the corpse of Adams with his foot, "decided to get in my way. I heard he wasn't able to breathe right for a while. Something about cartilage blocking his nasal passage."

Ashley let herself smile as Shepard nodded. "Right," he said, slotting his rifle back into its port, "Where's Finch? I want to see him before I call in the authorities."

Rick pointed up the steps without a word. The small group trooped up the stairs, finally coming to a small office. Inside, Finch was busy tying a bandage around the gash Rick put into his shoulder. When Shepard stepped inside, he whirled around, pistol in hand.

"Shepard," he growled, lowering the pistol as he glared at the ex-Red. "I wondered why that bitch looked familiar."

"Finch, the sector police are on their way," said Shepard, folding his arms across his chest. "If I were you, I'd surrender. Otherwise, they're going to shoot you when they make it here."

Finch's face contorted slightly, but then he fell back listlessly into his chair. "Might as well. Fine Shepard, I surrender."

When Shepard stepped outside the room to call in the fuzz, Ashley saw Rick step forward, knife in hand. "Now Finch," she heard him hiss, knife held loosely in one hand, "Where's the money you promised me? Tell me, or I get medieval on your mouth with this," he said, brandishing the blade slightly. Finch murmured something, and Rick nodded, before opening a drawer and pocketing something in a calf-storage container.

When Shepard came back into the room, Rick fell back, sheathing the knife back at his right thigh. Ash saw five knives there, with two spaces where knives were supposed to go. _Must be the two he threw downstairs_, she thought, folding her arms across her chest as Shepard motioned the two of them downstairs. After Rick collected his knives, and they stripped the bodies of any useful gear, they headed back out into the night, breaking into a light jog as the five of them headed toward the Mako.

* * *

Once they were all aboard the _Normandy_, and the _Normandy_ was safely in space, Ashley headed up the elevator to the mess. By the time she made it up, she was already bored and in a bad mood, something that was only intensified when she saw Rick sitting in Kaidan's regular spot, eating quietly from a tray.

Her angry outburst died away when he glanced up at her and smiled slightly. "Want some?" He asked, showing her what was on the tray. Ashley's mouth immediately started watering when she saw the MRE style rations.

"Where'd you get that?" She asked, dropping into the seat next to him. He chuckled, before handing her a fork, taking another bite of what she saw was steak and green beans.

"Bought a whole load of these from a camping store," he said, spearing another piece of the steak and putting it in his mouth. "Pretty good whenever I'm on a job."

Ash took the fork from his hand and held it in her hand, pausing as she readied to spear a piece of the steak. "Ummm… you sure you want to share this with me?" She asked, nudging a piece of the steak into some green beans. "I mean, once this is done, you're gonna have goo from the dispenser seven days a week, three times a day."

Rick paused, his fork halfway to his mouth. "Well.." he said, putting his fork down and staring at the tray, "Way I see it, you've been eating glop for more than a year." He put the forkful of food in his mouth, and began chewing. "So, you probably deserve a good meal."

Grinning, Ashley speared a piece of the cut up steak, and several of the green beans. "Don't need to tell me a second time," she said, putting the food in her mouth. Rick merely smiled at her, chewing contentedly on his last fresh (sort of) meal before switching to the glop. _It's been too long since I've had a real meal_ she thought to herself, forking another bunch of green beans and steak into her mouth.

"So…" Rick said, putting his fork down and nudging the tray over to her, picking up a napkin and wiping his mouth, "What's it like on the _Normandy_? Obviously, first Spectre and all that, but anything I should know about? Scuttlebutt and all that."

"Wellll," Ashley said around a mouthful of green beans, "There i-" She paused as Liara walked out of the med bay, walking right by the two of them, evidently deep in thought. Her eyes flicked over to Rick, trying to communicate via telepathy, body language, whatever…

"Hey, Liara," he called, making Ash roll her eyes as she turned back to the tray of real food. "What're you up to?"

The asari's head jerked up, looking at the two of them. Ashley noticed that the smile she had spied on his face beforehand had disappeared as he spoke. "Oh…" Liara said, fiddling with one of her blue ridges, "I was… going to talk to the Commander. He's still having trouble with the Prothean visions, and I hoped I might be able to help…"

Rick nodded, folding his arms across his chest as his gray eyes assessed the woman. Ash managed to keep from snorting a green bean up her nose. "Well," he said, gesturing her away with a small gesture, "You go help the commander. I'm sure he's looking forward to your help with his problems…"

Liara smiled gratefully and headed over to the Commander's personal quarters. Despite herself, Ash watched Shepard usher her in, a soft smile on his lips. The smile that he had given her a lot before Virmire…

"Scuttlebutt's right about her and Shepard, isn't it?" Ashley blinked, glancing over at Rick. He was staring at her with an intense gaze. When their eyes locked together, he continued staring a few seconds, before shrugging slightly. "Well, they want to flaunt it, it's their relationship." With that, he reached out and grabbed his mug, taking a small sip. Ash shook her head, turning back to the tray and beginning to eat the rest of the MRE. She didn't know what to think of Rick now. She still didn't completely trust him, but he obviously wasn't a monster. Especially if he shared his food. Ashley knew that, more often than not, Naval personnel coveted their solid food, and despised the nutrient goo with a vengeance. Suddenly, her brain short-circuited as she smelled what was in the cup he was drinking.

"Is that coffee?"

**Author's Note: Phew! Writer's block is a hell of a thing, but after playing through ME _again_, I think I managed to get through it. Thanks for the reviews.**

**Zarkov, I understand that my writing style is long-winded. I'm trying to change that, but somehow condensing story is hard for me. Needless to say, the next few chapters will be a little more fast paced.**

**JSaysNo, I'm currently brainstorming exactly _what_ happened with those four salarians. Needless to say, it has to be something that disillusioned him with the Alliance. I'm considering something with ****Mikhailovich, just because he rubbed me the wrong way during the game.**

**Anyways, anyone who reads this, thank you for reading! I'm still encouraging people to review, but I feel a little better now that I know some people are enjoying the story. See you next chapter!  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Infiltration and Red Armor**

The seal of the sleeper pod popped open, and Rick sleepily opened one eye at the hallway, before letting out a yawn. Gripping the edges of the pod, he swung himself out, bare feet hitting the floor of the steel deck. _Three days into a cruise, and I'm already tired of a routine_, he thought to himself, glancing up and down the pod corridor... All around him, more soldiers and techs climbed out of their pods, immediately piling over to the shower room over at the back of the hallway. Rick idly scratched at his chin as he walked toward the mess hall, grabbing a tray off of the counter and getting his morning slop.

Idly munching the thick nutrient paste, Rick glanced around the near-empty mess. He took his usual spot, giving a nod to each of the crew. First two days of the voyage, he'd been something of a celebrity. The new man on the ship, and all that jazz. Now, he was ignored about as much as the distillery was. If you wanted something from it, you paid attention to it. If you didn't, it faded into the background.

After a few minutes of choking down the glop, Rick dropped the tray into the washer, heading back down the hallway to the showers. Stripping down to his skin, he stepped onto the belt that pulled him through the short beltway, water and soap covering his skin before he was dried off by a jet of dry air.

Making it through, he watched the last of the soldiers file through the door of the dressing room, all clad in the navy blue/ gray fatigues that were omnipresent on Alliance vessels. Shaking his head, Rick opened his bag, slung on a towel hook that seemed pretty much for decoration, and pulled out a faded green shirt. With the dark colors of the ship, and the fatigues he wore, it was pretty much at odds with the color scheme. It was one of his favorites though, left over from his days as a colonist on the edge of wild space.

Shaking his head, Rick slipped it on and collected his omni-tool from the locker, tapping a few holographic buttons on it, before he smiled. Kassa still made good omni-tools, and Rick had bought a good one five years ago, right after he'd gotten drummed out of the service. Taking the earbud attachments from the omni-tool and touching the 'Play Music' icon on the holographic screen, he put them on, heading down the corridor to the elevator. Inside, he punched it down to the cargo bay, bobbing his head occasionally in time to the music.

_We went straight into darkness…_

When the elevator opened, he headed straight over to the armorer's table. Although he technically he didn't have a duty onboard the _Normandy_, he'd spent the past two days wiring his hardsuit for a combat exoskeleton and a medical exoskeleton.

_Wouldn't have taken half as long if I didn't get two of the components mixed up_, Rick ruefully thought, easily cracking apart the sniper rifle as he swept the inside for any cracks and/or deformations that might have dotted the barrel. None. It was almost perfect. Even though some people complained the Volkov series was inaccurate, Rick had found that you just had to be careful when squeezing the trigger. Most recruits squeezed too hard, throwing the rifle off balance and missing the target.

With that in mind, Rick began to integrate a scram rail and frictionless materials into the barrel of the gun, still listening to the song in his earbuds.

* * *

Ashley hadn't woken up in the best of moods. First, there was the fact that when her shift was over, it felt like she had just closed her eyes, and then had to get up again. The gruel that she got from the machine did nothing to prevent the pounding headache in between her eyes. Neither did the fact that the damn asari, Dr. T'Soni, walked right in front of her on the way to the commander's quarters.

Ash had fumed slightly that the damn asari would so blatantly pursue their relationship that she almost considered barging into Shepard's room just to see what was happening. Almost. Ash had only seen the Skipper angry once, and he hadn't been a pretty sight. It happened when the three of them stormed Noveria, and Shepard found out what the Hot Labs had been used for.

Ashley closed her eyes, trying to shake the image out of her eyes. His eyes were what made him scary. After he killed the man who had given them the code-key for the neutron purge, Shepard had mowed through the Rachni in his path. Then, he'd simply continued along with the mission like nothing had happened.

Standing up, she ditched her meal tray and headed down the elevator, the slow ride down doing even less to improve her mood and the headache.

_Jesus, is this what Kaiden's headaches felt like?_ Ash thought to herself, wincing slightly at the reminder of her late friend as she emerged from the elevator into the darker lights of the hangar.

Heading over to her station, she paused only slightly to notice that Ric- _Bludworth. Not Rick. Bludworth_, was working on his sniper rifle at the station. Her eyebrows knitted slightly, settling into what everyone on board called "Bitch Set," but never to her face. Even Wrex knew to get out of the way whenever she was in 'that' mood.

Rick, unfortunately, hadn't gotten the memo. He was still working on his sniper rifle, head nodding in time to whatever music he was listening to on his earbuds.

She didn't even bother tapping his shoulder. Pulling one of the tiny speakers out of his ear, she watched as he whirled around, eyes completely unchanged.

"Chief, just the person I was looking for," he began, holding up his partially disassembled sniper rifle, "I was just wondering where-"

William's hand reached up and smacked the rifle back down onto the table. Bludworth's eyes widened slightly, before they narrowed. "What th-"

"Stow it, you pile of crap," Ash snapped, her hand slowly moving up from the rifle to rub at her temples; trying to stop the pounding in the middle of her forehead. "This is my duty station, and I'll be damned if some civvie decides to muscle in on it. Even if it's the famous, unstable Bludworth."

She could tell the last remark hit home by his nostrils widening, and his features freezing into stone. "Chief Williams," he growled back, his voice making her blink in surprise as it dropped a few pitches, "I assure you that I'm not trying to 'muscle in' on your high-ranking and intellectually stimulating job as Keeper-And-Cleaner-Of-Weapons." His steel-gray eyes locked in on hers. "Believe me when I say that the job requires more expertise than I could ever get in a hundred years of cleaning assault rifles."

Ash knew she was getting baited, but she swallowed it anyways. She wasn't in the mood to get broadsided by a civvie and have to walk away. "You calling me a swabbie? At least it's a better title than _civilian_."

_THAT definitely hit a nerve_, she observed as he slowly worked his jaw around, obviously trying to cool his temper. His gray eyes closed briefly, before they opened and focused on hers. "Chief Williams," he managed to choke out, "I'm upgrading my sniper rifle, and I was just wondering if you had any later models of scram rails?"

"Gee, did you check in the container labeled 'Scram Rails'?" Ash caustically shot back at him.

One of his eyebrows twitched slightly as he sarcastically responded, "No. I assumed _that_ box was for random parts, and skipped straight over it."

" Of course. Leave it to a civvie to mix something that simple up," She said, a sarcastic smile touching her lips as she pulled the sniper rifle off of the table. "Nope, those are the best scram rails we have, civvie." Thrusting the rifle back into his arms, she gave him another cheeky smile before trying to push him from the table.

Bludworth didn't budge at the pushes. He glanced down at her, raising an eyebrow at her. "You're supposed to leave now," Ashley exasperatedly said, folding her arms as she looked up at him. "Your sniper rifle is modified, and-"

"Still need to replace the moving components with frictionless parts," he shot back at her, turning back to the table and grabbing the parts.

"Do it somewhere else then!" She tried to edge him out from the table, but he nudged her back with his shoulder.

"More'n enough room at the table for both of us," he calmly remarked, beginning to pick out the individual parts and replace them. Ashley merely glared at him for a bit, then seized an assault rifle and started cleaning it.

"Fine. But I don't want to see you at my station again, got it?"

"Got it, Ashley."

"Chief Williams to you, civvie."

* * *

Shepard glanced down at the asari's face, nestled just below his. Unlike what the rest of the crew thought, Liara and him didn't always have fun whenever she spent the night.

He smiled slightly as the blue-skinned woman shifted herself on his bed, one arm gently wrapping itself around her torso as he pressed a kiss against her temple. She had barely managed to tell him about what she decoded on one of the Prothean discs before she nodded off, still dressed in her work suit.

Shepard gently pulled away from her, moving off of the bed and going towards the workstation in the corner of the CO's quarters. Glancing back once at Liara's prone form on the bed, he turned to the screen, flicking through reports and beginning to read a report on his next target. A turian scouting expedition had encountered pirates on the planet Kiff. Humans had initially surveyed it, and it was perfect for human life. Earth-normal gravity, perfect atmos, and the animals were analogous to Earth species.

Like most N7's, Shepard lived and breathed by intel. When he ran with the Reds, he'd been in charge of knowing which members of rival gangs to blackmail or coerce into giving them info. He'd been good at it too, being six-foot something at age fifteen. Put a black-market assault rifle in his hands, and he was the perfect goon. Unlike most goons, he was smart enough to know that being a gang-member, he was beating the odds every time he got up in the morning. His intelligence was the only thing that kept him from being wasted by a drive-by shooter, or slagged by a firebomb tossed through his window.

So, his eighteenth birthday (or what he thought was his eighteenth birthday, he never could remember his birthday), he walked halfway across the city to the Alliance recruiting depot. The recruiters had given him the standard psych and regular tests, then shipped him off to basic. By the end of basic, he ended up being selected for N-series training.

"Commander?" Joker startled the commander out of his thoughts, glancing up at the decks. _It's as if Joker was God…_

"What is it, Joker?" Shepard asked, keeping his voice down as he flicked his eyes over to Liara. He hoped that Joker would get the hint and tone down the volume a little.

"We're approaching the Kaitain system. About two hours out."

Shepard's brow furrowed slightly as he glanced up at the speaker again. "Why're you informing me of it this early?"

"So you and the good doctor don't have to end up hurriedly putting on your clothes. The cleaner say they found a pair of panties in your room after the Battle of the Citadel," Joker somehow managed to say with both disinterest and hilarity.

Shepard's cheeks flared up slightly, and he shot a glance over to Liara. She was lying still on the bed, her side rising up and down softly as she steadily breathed. "Did they… tell anyone other than you?" The commander muttered quietly, eyes still focused on the sleeping asari.

"You mean, did they inform anyone of a potential breech in regulations? That the great Commander Shepard might have slept with someone under his command? Nope. Besides," Joker snidely snickered, "from what I heard, half the crew was steaming up their pods. And not just the boys and girls…"

"Don't need to know any of that, Joker. And I'll be sure to be ready when it comes to heading down." Shepard reached up to rub at his eyes, before cutting the PA connection on his console. Standing up, he quietly walked over to where Liara was asleep and gently nudged her shoulder.

"Hmm?" The asari managed to say, her eyes blinking closed before turning her head to look up at Shepard, the soft blue irises peering up at him. "What is the matter, Shepard?" She tiredly asked, letting her head fall back down onto the bed.

"It's good news-bad news-worse news time," John said, sitting down next to her. "The good news it, we're about two hours out. The bad news is that I think the entire boat knows about us."

Liara sat bolt upright, all tiredness banished. "Y-you do? How could they? I mean, we've been careful, I've gone in while most of the crew is occupied-"

Shepard quietly shushed her, pressing a finger up to her lips, his eyes looking straight into hers. "Actually, I think it has something to do with the worse news." Bringing the finger away from her lips, he couldn't help but chuckle at her face. "Remember when… the trip to Ilos?" Before he could continue, Liara's eyes grew wider than he ever saw.

"Oh Goddess…" she whispered. "I was wondering where precisely I had left that…" Her lips moved soundlessly for a few times, before she closed her eyes. "Who found it?"

"Specialist Gila," Shepard said, sitting down beside her as he put an arm around her shoulders.

"Oh no…." Liara breathed out, glancing up at him with an expression of absolute horror. "She…. Oh no…"

"Look on the bright side," he said, planting a kiss on her lips that made her smile, "At least now we don't have to explain why we get up later than everyone."

The comment made her laugh softly, before Liara leaned into Shepard, her head resting on his shoulder. "Joker said we have two hours until we make it to Kiff?" He nodded, his arm now around her waist. "Do you think we have enough time for… an observation?"

Shepard looked down at her, one eyebrow quirking as he asked "What observation?"

She smiled slightly, moving her lips to his. "Let me show you…" she whispered against him, the two of them lying down onto the mattress.

* * *

Rick glanced over at Ashley, who had been running diagnostics on assault rifle for the past hour and a half. Her serious face studied the screen, before she dug a part out of a bin and began to crack open the rifle's case, swapping out the modular part. He had to admit, she was good at her job. He'd probably have to have the schematics of the assault rifle in front of him before he was able to locate where the part was, or what section to rem-

He averted his eyes just as she began to turn towards him. It was a lucky break that he was calibrating the rangefinder on his Volkov, which made him turn slightly toward her. Still, he felt her glare at him for a few seconds while he continued his work, before she turned around. He kept working on the rifle, before setting it aside and picking up the Armageddon, opening the case and looking inside. Even though he didn't normally get close enough to use shotguns, it never hurt to be prepared, just in case.

When two sets of feet began to hit the deck, he glanced over his shoulder. The Commander and Liara were walking over to the two of them. Rick shook his head slightly, before turning back to his shotgun. Fitting in a scram rail, he clacked the case in and sighted down the barrel. With the rail, he figured anything that got close to him would get turned into puree.

"Bludworth, Williams. Glad to find you both down here."

Rick glanced up at the Commander, blinking in a decidedly bored way. "Any reason you were looking for the two of us? Did you think we'd both maybe snuck off into a sleep pod to have some fun instead of doing work?"

The asari to Shepard's side blushed furiously, looking down at her feet. A vein bulged in Shepard's forehead, but other than that, Rick didn't see any other reaction. He heard Ashley snort derisively somewhere behind him.

"What do you need us for, Commander?"

Shepard and Rick both glanced at her, Shepard's gaze level, while Rick merely shot a lop-sided grin over at her.

"I actually thought that instead of landing on the planet, and destroying anything in our path, we might try a little infiltration first," Shepard said, a small smile forming on his lips.

"What's wrong with destroying everything?" Rick asked, folding his arms across his chest. _Goddamnit,_ he thought to himself. _Why do they have to change this just when I get onboard? I get destructive urges too._

"Sometimes there's less than ideal evidence left over when we go on the rampage," Shepard responded, glancing over to Rick. "With an infiltration team going in a few hours ahead, I hope we might be able to collect some more information."

Rick opened his mouth, but Ashley beat him to the punch. "Sir, how exactly are we going to infiltrate the planet? I mean, if the Mako isn't going down with us…"

"Remember those asteroid pods we picked up, Chief?" Shepard asked. Rick glanced between the two of them, tension building in his stomach. "You and Bludworth are going down in them."

Rick couldn't help it. He cursed. He didn't stop swearing until the techs strapped him into the orbital insertion pod, and then he shot a glare at Shepard. "If I live, I'm going to put my boot in your ass." He grumbled, glancing around his pod as the techies sealed him into the pod.

"Someone scared of heights?" Ashley's voice teased from his ear comm, making him smack himself in the forehead.

"Heights? No. I've waited on the outside of a skyscraper for three days. I'm perfectly fine with heights," he managed to say through gritted teeth. "What I'm NOT fine with is going towards a planet at terminal velocity, with only a specially designed deathtrap keeping me from being roasted alive. THAT is what I am scared of."

"Gripe, gripe, gripe. At this rate, I'm surprised you even made it into the N7 Corps, let alone became a major." The woman's voice floated through the speaker, making red dots swim in Rick's vision.

"As much as I like a pissing match between two of the most stubborn ass people in the universe, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to interrupt this date," Joker cut in, before Rick could get his next scathing remark out. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to relax in the pod. "Because we're dropping you two in three… two… one… NOW!"

Rick opened his mouth to let out a final string of cursing, but the sudden feeling of planetary gravity shoved the words back into his throat. When the G-forces allowed him to talk, he began muttering in Latin, praying to God Almighty to let him live this suicidal way to land on a planet. When he'd been an N7, this was the most secretive and dangerous way to infiltrate. He'd crashed into a teammate not once, but twice before he flatly refused to get into one of the deathtraps. Right now, all he could do was pray that he didn't slam into Ashley or that she didn't slam into him.

The trip took roughly five minutes. Rick went through about every prayer he knew. If he'd had a rosary, he would have clutched in his hand. The ride was absolutely horrible. Every bump, every shudder, he thought, _This is it. Now I'm going to hear Ashley's screams, or my pod is going to tumble end over end and bury me deep._

None of those things happened. He felt the plasma jets on the nose-cone fire, throwing him up in his seat before the straps bit into his shoulders. The touchdown still rattled him, throwing up a huge plume of dirt like an ancient artillery shell, but he was still alive.

"Freedom!" He yelled out, stumbling out of the pod only to hit the ground. He began to chuckle, flipping over onto his back. The chuckles turned into small laughs, and by the time Ash managed to struggle out of her pod, he was laughing hard enough to make the sound echo around the empty plain.

When he saw her climb out of her pod, the laughing died down to just chuckles again as he heaved himself up from the ground. "Remind me to put my boot up Shepard's ass when we get back up to the _Normandy_," he said, shaking his head to brush away the rest of his chuckles.

"Get in line, Bludworth," Williams muttered, pulling herself out of the pod, only to collapse on the ground too. "I'm going to make him eat his size ten boots."

* * *

"Both Williams and Bludworth made it down successfully, Commander."

Shepard leaned back in the co-pilots seat at Joker's words, glancing over at the man in the pilot's chair. The man looked like he belonged in a cardboard box, but Shepard didn't mind. Joker had pulled his out of the fire more than once. And he literally had done it once.

"Good," Shepard said, tapping on the console to open up communications. "Chief, Bludworth, you're good to go. Remember, observe and report. Under no circumstances are you to engage the enemy."

The radio crackled a bit, then Ashley's voice came over the line. "Commander, where exactly is the enemy base?"

"Just over the ridge, Chief," Shepard responded, glancing briefly at the map.

"You mean, the ridge right behind us? The one that has seventy degree slopes?" Rick's voice interjected over the line

Shepard gritted his teeth as he responded in the affirmative. The comm was silent for a few seconds, but eventually Bludworth responded. "Commander, with all due respect, I'm not just going to put my boot up your ass when I get back. I don't know what else I'm gonna do, but I have faith that I can think of something."

"Duly noted," Shepard grumbled, then signed off. He didn't want to hear what Ashley was planning on doing to him.

* * *

"My head is still throbbing," Rick grumbled, reaching up to scratch a lump forming on his head. He'd taken off the helmet just before beginning the climb, and he regretted it.

"Next time, either wear the helmet, or keep the comments about my ass to yourself," Ash snapped, not even bothering to look away from her spotting scope.

"You're the one who insisted on climbing up before me," He shot back, shooting her a glare before putting his eye back to the scope. "Besides, all I did was make an observation. Not lik-" Rick managed to duck the swipe Williams threw at his head, giving her the dirtiest look he could. She gave him one right back, before they turned back to their scopes.

"We have contact," Rick muttered as he spotted a krogan coming out of the structure that made up the pirate base. It was the typical pre-fab structure, just deposited there with no thought for camouflage. The only thing that was camouflaged was the landing port. It was formed like a bunch of rocks, and would have fooled them, if it weren't for the frigate that was currently landed on the port.

"Red armor, looks like red coloration, and ugh, would you look at that complexion? Honestly, I never thought I'd think one of those dino-men could look worse, but that scar really takes the cake." Rick adjusted his aim slightly, placing the crosshairs of his rifle directly on the krogan's head. "He's not moving. Just standing there. Like a-"

Both him and Ashley turned their heads at the clack of a shotgun being loaded. "Like a distraction? Why, you're completely right." The black armored asari smiled at the two of them, before reaching up to her ear. "Wrex, Aleena. I got the two little varren."

Rick stared at her for a little, before he pulled the rifle up, trying to aim it at her. By the time he got it steadied, a blue aura surrounded her and flew towards him. His arms spasmed at the feeling of the ball of dark energy hit him, but what took the cake was the sudden crack his head made on the stone. Just before he passed out, he saw the asari lift Ashley up into the air, smiling. "Damn… blue-berries…" was all he managed to say before everything went black.

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry for being gone so long. College and all that have picked up. Anyways, to my reviewers, I thank you!**

**Kendoka Girl- Thanks for the praise. Although I am suspicious that I got this after I reviewed one of your works! Just kidding. =P**

**Orion- Go ahead! I don't own any of this. I'm merely putting a 'What if' story out there. Have fun everyone! Updates should come along.**

**And if anyone wants to be my editor, send me a message. Need one really badly.  
**


End file.
